Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jan 2014
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2014 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n025/a01.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

Legal Pot

CULTURAL INQUISITION

Re: "Founding Fathers' role in pot law - They left sizable powers to 
states; as a result, we' ll learn from Colorado, says Tom Keane," 
Tuesday Viewpoints column.

Columnist Tom Keane erred in calling Smart Approaches to Marijuana a 
"credible" organization. Their forced-treatment approach threatens to 
marry the prison-industrial complex to shady for-profit treatment 
providers. Just as people who drink an occasional glass of wine with 
dinner don't need mandatory substance-abuse treatment, the vast 
majority of marijuana users don't, either.

Many marijuana smokers have turned their lives around by putting down 
the bottle and picking up the marijuana pipe. These former alcoholics 
no longer wake up with debilitating hangovers. They are no longer at 
risk of overdose death. Because they have chosen a safer alternative 
to alcohol, they now lead productive lives.

It's true that some marijuana users have substance-abuse problems 
stemming from traumatic life experiences. The last thing they need is 
Big Brother testing their bodily fluids and threatening jail time.

The war on marijuana is a cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based 
public health campaign.

Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Arlington, Va. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom