FIGHTING WAR ON MARIJUANA IS A BIG WASTE

Regarding David G. Evans op-ed article, "Smoking marijuana harms kids,
adults" (DJ-2/5), the drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by
far the most popular illicit drug.

Punitive marijuana laws have little, if any, deterrent value. Lifetime
use of marijuana is higher in the U.S. than any European country, yet
America is one of the few Western countries that 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 deliberately confuse drug
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The
big losers in this battle are the taxpayers deluded into believing big
government is the appropriate response to non-traditional consensual
vices.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.