MARIJUANA IS NOT THE ENEMY

Regarding your thoughtful Nov. 14 editorial, 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.
Like any drug, 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
immigration 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. 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.SchoolsNotPrisons.com
(http://www.schoolsnotprisons.com/.

Robert Sharpe

M.P.A. policy analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy