Pubdate: Wed, 26 Nov 2014
Source: San Diego City Beat (CA)
Copyright: 2014 San Diego City Beat
Contact:  http://www.sdcitybeat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2764
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n841/a06.html

IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE IT

Regarding Aaryn Belfer's Oct. 29 "Backwards & in High Heels" column 
about Prop. F in Encinitas and marijuana dispensaries: It's been 18 
years since California voters approved medical marijuana. That 
California legislators are only now getting around to regulating 
medical marijuana is absurd. They missed the boat.

Restricting access at this point is a gift to Mexican drug cartels. 
It's time to catch up with Colorado and fully legalize it. 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. 
It's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom