POT LEGALIZATION UNDER CONDITIONS SAFER FOR ALL

Re: No hope in fighting dope, June 4, 2008

There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket
legalization.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the
ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is
critical. As long as marijuana distribution is controlled by organized
crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to
come into contact with sellers of addictive drugs like cocaine and
heroin. Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol -
the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death - it makes
no sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that finance
organized crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs.

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

ROBERT SHARPE

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC