Pubdate: Sun, 19 Feb 2012
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2012 The Billings Gazette
Contact: http://billingsgazette.com/app/contact/?contact=letter
Website: http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author: Robert Sharpe

LEGALIZING POT MAKES MORE SENSE THAN DRUG WAR

The use of synthetic marijuana is an unintended side effect of the 
war on natural marijuana. Military personnel and others who are drug 
tested are turning to potentially toxic drugs made in China and sold 
as research chemicals before being repackaged as legal incense. 
Expanding the drug war will only add to what is already the highest 
incarceration rate in the world. Chinese chemists will tweak formulas 
to stay one step ahead of the law and two steps ahead of the drug 
tests. Misguided efforts to protect children from drugs are putting 
children at great risk.

A better solution is to legalize marijuana. Unlike alcohol, marijuana 
has never been shown to cause an overdose death nor does it share the 
addictive properties of tobacco. Taxing and regulating marijuana 
would eliminate the demand for synthetic marijuana, provide consumers 
with a comparatively safe alternative to alcohol and close the 
gateway to hard drugs by taking marijuana distribution out of the 
hands of violent drug cartels. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, 
but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom