Pubdate: Wed, 23 Oct 2013
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Contact: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/submitletters
Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/394
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n511/a01.html

WAR ON MARIJUANA POINTLESS AND PETTY

Regarding your Oct. 20 editorial, no further research is needed. The 
results are already in. 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 is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a 
failure. The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as 
the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. 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. It's time to stop the 
pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom