Pubdate: Sun, 29 Nov 2015
Source: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Copyright: 2015 Courier-Post
Contact:  http://www.courierpostonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/826
Author: Robert Sharpe

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Re: "Legalizing marijuana is not the answer" (Commentary, Nov. 25)

Diane Litterer, CEO and executive director of the New Jersey
Prevention Network, makes the common mistake of assuming that
marijuana prohibition reduces marijuana use.

The United States has almost double the lifetime rate of marijuana use
as the Netherlands, where marijuana has been legally available for
decades. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use,
prohibition is a catastrophic failure. If the goal is to subsidize
violent drug cartels, marijuana prohibition is a grand success.

The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money
grows on little trees. 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.

In New Jersey and throughout the nation, it's time to stop the
pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Washington
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