MARIJUANA POLICIES FINANCE ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS

To the editor:

If the RCMP is to be believed marijuana is grown by ruthless organized
criminals ("Wanted," May 6 Capital News).

Of course, alcohol was once very much associated with organized crime and
violence in the U.S. prior to the repeal of prohibition in 1933. Canadian
tax dollars are being wasted on anti-drug strategies that only make
marijuana growing more profitable.

The drug war's distortion of basic supply and demand dynamics makes an
easily-grown weed literally worth its weight in gold. Is it any wonder that
British Columbians are growing pot?

Needless to say, the black market has no age controls in place that work to
keep drugs out of the hands of children. Locking up Canadians who grow pot
in response to the financial incentives created by drug laws isn't the answer.

In Europe, the Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by
replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation. Separating the hard and
soft drug markets and establishing age controls for marijuana has proven
more effective than zero tolerance.

As the most popular illicit drug in Canada, marijuana provides the black
market contacts that introduce users to drugs like heroin. This "gateway"
is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms marijuana
would be legal. Alcohol poisoning kills thousands annually. Marijuana, on
the other hand, has never been shown to cause an overdose death.

It makes no sense to waste tax dollars on policies that finance organized
crime groups like the Hells Angels and facilitate the use of deadly hard drugs.

I regret not having Canadian statistics for you. If you are interested in a
dated comparison, Dutch vs. U.S. rates of drug use can be found at:
www.netherlands-embassy.org/c_drugstat.html

More recent figures can be found at: www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

Annual causes of death in the U.S.: www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm

Robert Sharpe, program officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation http://www.drugpolicy.org Washington, DC