Pubdate: Thu, 20 Feb 2003
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2003 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n239/a05.html

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Few Americans realize that the United States may soon be one the few 
Western countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish otherwise 
law-abiding citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. Evidence of the U.S. 
government's reefer madness is best exemplified by the kangaroo court trial 
of Ed Rosenthal ["Federal Courts Ignore Legitimate Uses of Pot," 
Viewpoints, Feb. 11].

By denying an officer of the City of Oakland the ability to use 
California's medical marijuana law and the U.S. Constitution's 
10th-Amendment protection of states' rights as a defense, the judge foisted 
a predetermined guilty verdict onto a grossly misinformed jury. The Drug 
Enforcement Administration's shameful paramilitary raids on voter-approved 
medical marijuana providers in California says a lot about U.S. government 
priorities. The very same federal government that claims illicit drug use 
funds terrorism is forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of 
street dealers.

Apparently, marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the 
country from terrorism.

Robert Sharpe

Editor's Note: The writer is program officer of the Drug Policy Alliance. 
Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom