Pubdate: Thu, 12 Sep 2013
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n455/a04.html

FEDERALISM, THE CONSTITUTION AND A DOJ BLOWING SMOKE

If the president wants to decriminalize marijuana, he should push 
Congress to change the law.

Yes, President Obama could lead the marijuana law-reform debate. Once 
again the people are leading and the politicians are merely following 
the opinion polls. A little leadership would go a long way toward 
putting an end to a disastrous public policy that has done little 
other than burden millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens with 
criminal records. The war on marijuana consumers is indefensible. If 
the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize drug cartels, 
prohibition is a grand success.

If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic 
failure. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the 
Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. The criminalization of 
Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no scientific basis. 
The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not 
an evidence-based public-health campaign. It's time to stop the 
arrests and instead to tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom