Pubdate: Tue, 26 Aug 2014
Source: Packet & Times (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Robert Sharpe
Contact: http://www.orilliapacket.com/letters
Website: http://www.orilliapacket.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2397
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n696/a07.html

CHILDREN MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE MESSAGE

Re: "Clear the smoke and regulate pot like booze," column, Aug. 22 
Lost in the debate over marijuana is the ugly truth behind marijuana 
prohibition.

North America's marijuana laws are based on culture and xenophobia,
not science. The first marijuana laws were a racist reaction to
Mexican migration during the early 1900s. Writing under the pen name
Janey Canuck, Emily Murphy warned Canadians about the dreaded reefer
and its association with non-white immigrants. The yellow journalism
of William Randolph Hearst led to its criminalization in the United
States.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. White North Americans did not begin to
smoke marijuana in significant numbers until after government
bureaucracies began funding reefer madness junk science. When
threatened, the drug war gravy train predictably decries the "message"
that drug-policy reform sends to children. There is a big difference
between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs.

Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and
frees users from criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated
market with age controls. As long as organized crime controls
marijuana distribution, consumers will come into contact with hard
drugs like cocaine, meth and heroin. Marijuana prohibition is a
gatewaydrug policy. Marijuana law reform may send the wrong message to
children, but I like to think the children are more important than the
message.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D