Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jun 2011
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2011 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n390/a10.html

NO CHANGE HERE

Regarding "Hard stuff; Get real about dealing with illegal drugs" 
(Page B11, Tuesday), don't look to the Obama administration for 
change. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy 
immediately rejected the high-profile Global Commission on Drug 
Policy call for reform and defended the "balanced drug control 
efforts" of the federal government.

These so-called balanced efforts have given the land of the free the 
highest incarceration rate in the world. Prohibition-related violence 
has caused upward of 35,000 deaths in Mexico over the past four 
years. Despite criminal penalties, the U.S. has higher rates of drug 
use than European Union countries like Portugal that have decriminalized.

With national debt soaring, we can no longer afford to throw good 
money after bad drug policy.

Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom