WRITER'S JOB DEPENDS ON POT LAWS

Re: "Legalizing pot doesn't make us safer -- We are winning the fight
against drug use and abuse, says James Capra," Tuesday Viewponts.

Mr. Capra's opposition to liberalizing U.S. marijuana policies is
understandable. After all, his job security depends on it.

Since the early 1990s, police have arrested more than 10 million
Americans for marijuana offenses. Nearly 90 percent of these arrests
are for minor marijuana offenses, not sales or cultivation. In Texas,
more than 95 percent of all pot arrests are for simple possession.

Yet, according to a World Health Organization report released earlier
this month, more than 42 percent of Americans have experimented with
pot -- a percentage that is higher than anywhere else in the world.

The punitive anti-drug policies endorsed by Mr. Capra have had no
discernable impact on Americans' drug use. By contrast, they have
provided Mr. Capra and his colleagues' cradle-to-grave employment at
taxpayers' expense.

Paul Armentano, deputy director

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Washington, D.C.