Pubdate: Wed, 03 Sep 2014
Source: Barrie Examiner (CN ON)
Copyright: 2014, Barrie Examiner
Contact: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/letters
Website: http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2317
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n698/a02.html

MARIJUANA LAW REFORM MAY SEND WRONG MESSAGE, BUT KIDS MORE IMPORTANT 
THAN MESSAGE

(Re: 'Clear the smoke and regulate pot like booze' in the Aug. 21 
edition of the Examiner)

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 gateway drug 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

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom