PROGRESSIVE ON POT

I respectfully disagree ("Marijuana loophole closed," May 10). Not only
should marijuana be allowed as medicine, but marijuana prohibition should
be subjected to a thorough cost-benefit analysis. Like any drug, marijuana
can be harmful if abused but the health effects of marijuana are
inconsequential compared to the life-shattering effects of America's
punitive criminal justice system. Of course, a review of marijuana
legislation would open up a Pandora's box most politicians would just as
soon avoid. America's marijuana laws are based on culture and xenophobia,
not science.

Robert Sharpe
Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation
Washington, D.C.