LEGALIZE RELATIVELY HARMLESS DRUG

Tim Williams is another drug war casualty, killed over $30 worth of
marijuana by Jerome County sheriff's officers during a botched drug raid.
We don't shoot alcoholics in this country, yet some people would have us
believe that possession of a relatively harmless drug like marijuana, which
has never been shown to cause an overdose death, justifies the use of
deadly force.

Marijuana prohibition is an integral part of the larger drug war. In 1999,
46 percent of the 1,532,200 total arrests nationwide for drug violations
were for marijuana, 620,541 for possession alone. Marijuana laws consume
enormous resources while failing miserably at preventing use. Illegal drug
dealers don't identify for age, making it easier for teen-agers to buy
illegal pot than beer.

There are cost-effective alternatives to the current approach. The
Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by replacing
marijuana prohibition with regulation. Dutch rates of drug use 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.

As the most popular illicit drug in America, marijuana provides the black
market contacts that introduce users to hard drugs like meth.

This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes no
sense to perpetuate policies that finance organized crime, facilitate the
use of hard drugs and result in the untimely death of otherwise law-abiding
Americans who smoke pot. How many more citizens will be sacrificed at the
altar of the failed drug.

ROBERT SHARPE

Washington, D.C.

(Editor's note: Robert Sharpe is a program officer with the Lindesmith
Center-Drug Policy Foundation.)