Pubdate: Sun, 25 Nov 2012
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2012 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n590/a04.html

THIS PARTICULAR DRUG WAR MUST BE CALLED A FAILURE

RE "POT problems" by Tom Keane (Op-ed, Nov. 18): The voters of
Colorado and Washington state have made it clear that the federal
government can no longer get away with confusing the drug war's
collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant. If the goal of
marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels,
prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand
dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of
marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a failure.

The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the
Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization
of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science.
The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not
an evidence-based public health campaign. As a nation, we face a
looming fiscal cliff. We can no longer subsidize culture warrior
prejudices. It's time to stop the arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe,

Policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Arlington, Va.
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MAP posted-by: Matt