DRUG WAR: ALL COSTS, NO BENEFITS

Regarding Travis C. Ash's thoughtful Oct. 17th op-ed, the drug war is
in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit
drug. Punitive marijuana laws have little, if any, deterrent value.

The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any
European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries
that uses its criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer
marijuana to martinis. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown
to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive
properties of tobacco. The short-term health effects of marijuana are
inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records.

Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to many
Americans. In subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors, the
U.S. government is subsidizing organized crime. The drug war's
distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand make an easily
grown weed literally worth its weight in gold. The only clear winners
in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs
politicians who've built careers on confusing drug prohibition's
collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The big losers in
this battle are the taxpayers who have been deluded into believing
big government is the appropriate response to non traditional
consensual vices. Students who want to help end the intergenerational
culture war otherwise known as the war on some drugs should contact
Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.