Pubdate: Mon, 05 Nov 2012
Source: Massachusetts Daily Collegian (U of MA, Edu)
Copyright: 2012 Daily Collegian
Contact:  http://www.dailycollegian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1401
Author: Robert Sharpe
Note: Headline by newshawk
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n549/a07.html

STUDENTS SHOULD JOIN SSDP

To the editor,

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
marijuana would be legal and there would be no medical marijuana
debate. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.
Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate
as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican
immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the
American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires
homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans
did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal
bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

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.

Students who want to help end the intergenerational culture war
otherwise known as the war on some drugs should contact Students for
Sensible Drug Policy at www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com.

Robert Sharpe,

MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy
www.csdp.org
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MAP posted-by: Matt