Pubdate: Tue, 05 Aug 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n633/a06.html

LEGALIZATION OF POT IS OVERDUE

Re "The medical marijuana mess," Editorial, Aug. 1

I respectfully disagree with your editorial. Rather than back up and 
fix a medical marijuana mess almost two decades late, California 
legislators need to move forward and fully legalize marijuana.

Marijuana prohibition is indefensible. If the goal is to subsidize 
violent drug cartels and criminal profiteers, 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 U.S. has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the 
Netherlands, where marijuana has been legally available for decades. 
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. California needs to forget 
about its medical marijuana mess and catch up with Colorado already.

Robert Sharpe Arlington, Va. The writer is a policy analyst at Common 
Sense for Drug Policy.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom