TAKING A HARD LINE AGAINST MEDICINAL MARIJUANA IS SOFT-HEADED

Regarding Christopher Largen's excellent letter ["Stop locking up
those who use medicinal marijuana," April 13], I conclude that
marijuana would be legal if health outcomes determined drug laws
instead of cultural norms. Alcohol poisoning kills thousands annually.
Marijuana, on the other hand, has never been shown to cause an
overdose death.

Although marijuana is relatively harmless compared to many legal
drugs, marijuana prohibition is deadly. As the most popular illicit
drug in America, marijuana provides the black-market contacts who
introduce users to drugs like heroin. This "gateway" is the direct
result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

In Europe, the Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug-use
by replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation. Dutch drug-use
rates are significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category.
Separating the hard- and soft-drug markets and establishing age
controls for marijuana has proven more effective than zero tolerance.

Drug-policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like
to think children are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe,
Washington, D.C.

Robert Sharpe is a program officer at The Lindesmith Center-Drug
Policy Foundation.

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?155 (Lindesmith Center)