DRUG TESTING DOESN'T DETECT ALL DRUGS

Mike J. Plylar's excellent April 24 letter, "Drugs tests may be profitable,
but they are fallible," exposed the excessive power and influence of the
drug war gravy train. Greed and fallibility are not the only problems
related to drug testing.

Drug tests encourage the use of synthetic drugs like OxyContin. Marijuana
is the only drug that stays in the body long enough to make urinalysis a
deterrent. Marijuana's organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger
for weeks.

Harder drugs are water-soluble and exit the human body within 48 hours.

Drug users know this. Anyone on the Internet can find out how to thwart a
drug test. A person who takes OxyContin on Friday night will likely test
clean on Monday.

Ironically, the least dangerous recreational drug (marijuana) is the only
drug used that is discouraged by testing. Alcohol, incidentally, kills more
Americans every year than all illegal drugs combined.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
marijuana, a relatively harmless drug that has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, would be legal.

Taxing and regulating West Virginia's Number One cash crop would separate
the hard and soft drug markets and eliminate the "gateway" to drugs like
cocaine. Establishing strict age controls is critical.

Right now kids have an easier time buying pot than beer. Drug policy reform
may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children
themselves are more important than the message.

Opportunistic drug war profiteers would no doubt disagree.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.