MARIJUANA PROHIBITION

The drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most
popular illicit drug. Marijuana prohibition has done little other than
burden millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal
records. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study
reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States
than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western
countries that use its criminal justice system to punish citizens who
prefer marijuana to martinis.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose
death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The
short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to
the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana
represents the counterculture to many Americans. In subsidizing the
prejudices of culture warriors, government is subsidizing organized
crime. The drug war's distortion of immutable laws of supply and
demand causes big money to grow on little trees. The only clear
winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless
tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers confusing drug
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The
big losers in this battle are the taxpayers who have been deluded into
believing big government is the appropriate response to non-
traditional consensual vices. 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.

Robert Sharpe