POT LAWS NEED DISTANCE FROM HARD DRUGS

Re: Debate needed on drug laws, Our View, April 8, 2009.

There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce
disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with
standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the
problems associated with heroin use.

The success of the Swiss heroin maintenance program has inspired
pilot programs in Canada, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. If
expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized
crime of a core client base.

This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare
future generations addiction.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without
the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets
is critical.

As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized
crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to
come into contact with sellers of hard drugs such as cocaine.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes
no sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that finance
organized crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs. Drug policy
reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think
the children are more important than the message.

For information on the efficacy of heroin maintenance please read the
following British Medical Journal report:
www.bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310 . To learn more
about heroin maintenance research in Canada please visit: www.naomistudy.ca .

Robert Sharpe Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC