Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2012
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2012 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: Robert Sharpe

WAR ON MARIJUANA

The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. At a time when
state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and
teachers, this country continues to squander public resources
criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis.

The end result of this ongoing culture war is not lower rates of use.
The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where
marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a step in the
right direction. Legalizing marijuana would render the drug war obsolete.

- -- Robert Sharpe

The writer is a policy analyst at Common Sense for Drug Policy
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