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MARIJUANA PROHIBITION FAILS TO PREVENT DRUG USE

I am writing in response to Alex Gratzer's April 2 column, "Respect medical marijuana." If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal.  Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.  Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. 

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association.  Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best.  White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. 

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent.  The U.S.  has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults over the age of 18.  Students who want to help end the intergenerational culture war otherwise known as the war on some drugs should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com

Robert Sharpe

policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.