Get Active Subscribe Support Us

THE SIDE EFFECTS OF POT BAN

Regarding Chet Bell's Jan.  26 op-ed, the use of so-called synthetic marijuana is an unintended side-effect of the war on organic marijuana.

Consumers are turning to potentially toxic drugs, made in China and sold as research chemicals before being repackaged as incense for legal retail sale in the United States.  Military personnel and persons on probation who are drug-tested use these synthetic variants to escape detection.

These chemical highs are sold over the Internet, and cannot be detected by standard drug enforcement measures.  User accounts suggest dangerous side effects.

Expanding the drug war will nonetheless do little, other than add to what is already the highest incarceration rate in the world.  A better solution is to legalize natural marijuana.

Unlike alcohol, natural marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.

Taxing and regulating marijuana would eliminate the demand for synthetics, provide consumers with a healthier alternative to alcohol, and close the gateway to hard drugs by taking marijuana distribution out of the hands of violent drug cartels.  Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

Sharpe is a policy analyst with the decriminalization advocacy group Common Sense for Drug Policy.