DRUG LAWS ARE PART OF A MORAL CRUSADE

Sir: Britain's seemingly arbitrary drug-classification
system (report, 1 August) is best understood in the context
of the war on drugs. The drug war is not a science-based
public-health campaign, but rather a quest for cultural
purity. The most widely used illicit drug is cannabis, which
occupies the place of alcohol in many non-western countries.
Unlike alcohol, cannabis has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties
of tobacco. If health outcomes determined drugs laws instead
of cultural norms, cannabis would be legal. Not
surprisingly, the US is the driving force behind the global
drug war and has been from its inception.

Despite clear evidence that draconian drug laws fail to deter use, the
US government uses its superpower status to export a dangerous moral
crusade around the world. The short-term health effects of cannabis
are inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal
records. Unfortunately, cannabis represents the counterculture to
misguided reactionaries intent on forcibly imposing their version of
morality. Cannabis can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, DC