LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Regarding Miryam Wiley's Sept. 16th column: 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 U.S. Drug Enforcement 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.

ROBERT SHARPE, MPA,

Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.