LAWS, NOT DRUGS, ARE PROBLEM

To the editor:

Michael Harris's inane lament (The Daily News, April 4) about legalizing
marijuana ignores the fact that the things that are killing us are drug
prohibition laws and their effects. For example, there was no such thing as
"drug related crime" before drug prohibition went on the books. The result
of our ill-considered drug laws has become a disaster greater than alcohol
prohibition.

The solution to our drug problems is to legalize their use by adults and to
offer treatment for those who want it.

It's time to apply a little common sense to drug policy. Lancet, the
prestigious British medical journal, has said, "The smoking of cannabis,
even long term, is not harmful to health." Moreover, every major U.S. and
Canadian study of marijuana has concluded that cannabis should be
decriminalized. No serious student of cannabis still believes the Reefer
Madness accusations that marijuana causes violence and insanity.

Marijuana laws are based on Reefer Madness myths so ridiculous that even
prohibitionists now admit they are pure fiction. Why does Michael Harris
think enforcing laws based on lies can do any good?

Redford Givens

San Francisco
Via the Internet