Pubdate: Thu, 29 Dec 2005
Source: Yorkshire Post (UK)
Copyright: 2005 Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  http://yorkshirepost.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2239
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1953/a04.html

JUST SAY NO TO THE US DRUGS INQUISITION

Raymond Curry (Yorkshire Post, December 14) makes the common mistake
of assuming that zero-tolerance drug laws actually reduce drug use.
Consider the experience of the former land of the free and current
record-holder in the number of citizens incarcerated. Here in the
United States, police searches on public transit, drug-sniffing dogs
in schools and random drug-testing have led to a loss of civil
liberties, while failing miserably to prevent drug use.

The drug war is, in large part, a war on cannabis, by far the most
popular illicit drug. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the
Future survey reports that lifetime use of cannabis is higher in the
US than in any European country, yet America is one of the few Western
countries that uses its criminal-justice system to punish citizenswho
prefer marijuana to martinis.

Despite clear evidence that draconian laws fail to deter use, the US
government continues to uses its superpower status to export a
dangerous moral crusade around the globe. The short-term health
effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term
effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, cannabis represents the
counterculture to misguided reactionaries intent on prosecuting their
version of morality. The UK should just say no to the American
Inquisition.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC, United
States.