POLICE ACCUSATIONS ARE STALE PROPAGANDA IN WAR ON DRUGS

In defending Madison police's heavy-handed approach to marijuana, Lt. Bill
Housley of the Dane County narcotics unit claims that "the current grade of
marijuana is a more potent and dangerous strain than grown in the past."

Let's get something straight. Both low-potency and high-potency pot will
yield the desired results.

The only difference is the potent marijuana requires significantly less
smoke inhalation. Marijuana prohibition is built on lies like those
perpetuated by Lt. Housley.

Prior to the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 and subsequent
"reefer madness" campaign, few Americans had heard of marijuana.
Recreational use was limited to Mexican migrants and a handful of black
jazz musicians.

Historians have argued that the first marijuana laws were a racist reaction
to Mexican laborers taking jobs from whites during the Great Depression.

Legislation was passed in large part due to newspaper magnate William
Randolph Hearst's sensationalist yellow journalism. Incredibly violent acts
were allegedly committed by minorities under marijuana's influence.

The blatant lies used to justify marijuana prohibition lend credence to the
theory that marijuana laws were intended as a means of disenfranchising
minorities. (Interestingly enough, whites did not smoke marijuana until the
government began demonizing the plant.)

Make no mistake. Marijuana laws are not about protecting health. We don't
incarcerate rugby players, tobacco smokers or people with poor diets.

Hopefully policymakers will end this misguided culture war and finally
apply the lessons learned from America's disastrous experiment with alcohol
prohibition. For more information, contact Students for Sensible Drug
Policy at www.ssdp.org.

Robert Sharpe
George Washington University