Pubdate: Fri, 03 May 2013
Source: Sentinel Review (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Woodstock Sentinel Review
Contact: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/letters
Website: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2385
Author: Robert Sharpe

TREMENDOUS COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Regarding Michel Kelly-Gagnon's April 27 column, now that neighboring 
Washington state and Colorado have legalized marijuana, Ottawa can no 
longer claim Canada must uphold marijuana prohibition in order to 
maintain good U.S. relations. In 2002, the Canadian Senate's Special 
Committee on Illegal Drugs concluded that marijuana is relatively 
benign, prohibition contributes to organized crime, and law 
enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use. Consider 
the experience of the former land of the free and current world 
leader in per capita incarceration. Despite decades of zero 
tolerance, the U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the 
Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The only winners 
in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs 
politicians who've built careers confusing the drug war's tremendous 
collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe,

Arlington, Virginia
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