Pubdate: Thu, 24 May 2012
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n279/a05.html

PROHIBITION HAS FAILED

Re "Measure A's a downer" (Editorial, May 17):

If marijuana were fully legal there would be no backyard residential 
growers cashing in on inflated medical-marijuana prices. Legitimate 
farmers would produce it by the ton at a fraction of the current 
cost. There is a reason you don't see Mexican drug cartels sneaking 
into national forests to cultivate tomatoes and cucumbers. They 
cannot compete with a legal market.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent. The United 
States has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where 
marijuana is legally available to adults. The only clear winners in 
the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs 
politicians who've built careers confusing the drug war's collateral 
damage with a relatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe, MPA Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom