Pubdate: Sun, 01 Dec 2013
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2013 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n562/a01.html

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

To the editor:

Regarding Glenn Cook's Nov. 24 column ("Medical marijuana going to 
pot?"), not only should medical marijuana be made available to Nevada 
patients in need, but adult recreational use should be legal too. The 
days when politicians can get away with confusing the drug war's 
tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are 
coming to an end. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to 
subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand 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 catastrophic failure. The United States has double 
the rate of marijuana use of 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.

This country can no longer afford to subsidize the prejudices of 
culture warriors. It's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead 
tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, Arlington VA. The author is a policy analyst for 
Common Sense for Drug Policy.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom