Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2014
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2014 Townnews.com
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n351/a02.html

ALL IN ON POT FOR ANY PURPOSE

Editor: Regarding Gregory Gerdeman'=C2=80=C2=99s April 20 op-ed, not only
 should
medical marijuana be made available, but all marijuana use should be
legally regulated. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have
given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers do not 

ID for age.

Right now kids have an easier time buying pot than beer.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug
cartels, prohibition is a 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 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 but throughout the nation, it'=C2=80=C2
=99s
time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

ROBERT SHARPE
POLICY ANALYST,
COMMON SENSE FOR DRUG POLICY,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Matt