WAR ON DRUGS NOT SUCCESSFUL IN U.S.

Dear Editor,

Regarding your Apr. 29 editorial:

It would be a mistake to assume that the police state approach to
public health problems works. Here in the United States, drug-sniffing
dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil
liberties, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. Marijuana
use is higher in the U.S. than any European country, yet America is
one of the few Western countries that punish citizens who prefer
marijuana to martinis.

Thanks to the war on some drugs, Canada's southern neighbor now has
the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a
cultural inquisition, not a public health campaign. Jail cells are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.
Can Canada afford to emulate the harmful maximization approach of the
former land of the free and current record holder of citizens
incarcerated?

The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug
use can be found at: www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf

Sincerely

Robert Sharpe, MPA policy analyst Common Sense for Drug
Policy www.csdp.org

P.O. Box 59181

Washington, DC 20012