LET COMMON SENSE PREVAIL AT VOTING BOOTH

Dear Editor,

UNLV students need to vote yes on Ballot Question No. 7. If health
outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms marijuana
would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to
cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties
of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.
The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican
migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the
American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires
homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best.

White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be
entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness
propaganda. By raiding voter-approved medical marijuana providers in
California, the very same Bush administration that claims illicit
drug use funds terrorism is forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the
hands of street dealers. Apparently marijuana prohibition is more
important than protecting the country from terrorism. 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.

y: Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy