Pubdate: Sat, 25 Feb 2012
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2012 Miami Herald Media Co.
Contact:  http://www.miamiherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Robert Sharpe, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n141/a04.html

REGULATE MARIJUANA

Re Andres Oppenheimer's Feb. 19 column, Pro-drug legalization forces
gaining clout: There's a middle ground between drug prohibition and
blanket legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has
been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic addicts.
The success of the program has inspired pilot projects in Canada,
Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription
heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base
and render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the
ubiquitous advertising. As long as organized crime controls marijuana
distribution, consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard
drugs. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.
Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is
deadly.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.