Pubdate: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Copyright: 2007 Boulder Weekly Contact: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n194/a08.html?318320 Author: Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) LAFAYETTE JUDGE STANDS UP FOR STONERS Kudos to municipal court judge Leonard Frieling for resigning in protest of the Lafayette City Council's asinine ratcheting up of marijuana penalties. Marijuana prohibition is a colossal failure. 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've built careers confusing drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The big losers in this battle are the American taxpayers deluded into believing big government is the appropriate response to non-traditional consensual vices. The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug use can be found at www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad-pr.pdf Robert Sharpe, policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy/via Internet - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman