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TURN COSTLY DRUG WAR INTO PROFITABLE VENTURE

Editor,

Regarding Maureen Dowd's Feb.  2 column, the people of Colorado and Washington state are way ahead of the politicians in Washington, D.C.  The days when Congress 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 almost 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.  Not just in Colorado and Washington state but throughout the nation, it's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, MPA,

policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.