Pubdate: Sat, 08 Sep 2012
Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Copyright: 2012 Times-Standard
Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus
Website: http://www.times-standard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051
Author: Robert Sharpe

DRUG WAR'S TO BLAME FOR MESS

If marijuana were fully legal there would be no backyard residential 
growers cashing in on inflated medical marijuana prices. Legitimate 
farmers would produce it by the ton at a fraction of the current 
cost. There is a reason you don't see Mexican drug cartels sneaking 
into national forests to cultivate tomatoes and cucumbers. They 
cannot compete with a legal market.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican 
migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the 
American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires 
homicidal rages have been counterproductive. 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. The United States has 
higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana 
is legally available to adults. The only clear winners in the war on 
marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians 
who've built careers confusing the drug war's collateral damage with 
a relatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

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