Pubdate: Fri, 29 Apr 2005
Source: Post, The (Ohio U, OH Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Post
Contact: http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/letter.php
Website: http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1269
Author: Robert Sharpe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n681/a01.html

DRUG WAR EFFORTS ON MARIJUANA ILL-FOUNDED

Regarding Brian J. Mcfillen's Apr. 26th column ("Republicans must continue 
to coalesce"), the drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the 
most popular illicit drug. Marijuana prohibition has done little other than 
burden millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal records. 
The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that 
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European 
country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that uses its 
criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, 
nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term 
health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term 
effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents the 
counterculture to many Americans. In subsidizing the prejudices of culture 
warriors, government is subsidizing organized crime. The drug war's 
distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand make an easily grown weed 
literally worth its weight in gold.

The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and 
shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who have built careers on confusing 
drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The 
big losers in this battle are the American taxpayers who have been deluded 
into believing big government is the appropriate response to 
non-traditional, consensual vices. Students who want to help reform harmful 
drug laws should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org.

-Robert Sharpe is a Policy Analyst for the non-profit organization Common 
Sense for Drug Policy.