Pubdate: Sat, 08 Feb 2014
Source: Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, PA)
Copyright: 2014 Robert Sharpe
Contact:  http://www.standardspeaker.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1085
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n117/a02.html

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.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D