TIME TO ABANDON POLICY

War On Marijuana Costly, Ineffective

Ever since I was a kid in college in the mid-1960's, marijuana has
been painted as "the evil weed" that causes all kinds of mental and
physical problems. The government propaganda was prolific -- and
almost completely a fabrication. Virtually every negative government
assertion has been shown to be unfounded.

Yet tens of billions of dollars are wasted, and hundreds of thousands
of lives are ruined, every year in the futile efforts to eradicate
pot and its use as a recreational drug.

The reality is that pot is the most innocuous of all recreational
drugs, both legal (cigarettes and alcohol) and illegal (cocaine,
speed, heroin, LSD, etc.). Studies about pot have shown:

* Both physical and mental effects are temporary and end when one
stops using the drug.

* It is, according to a study published in the New England Journal of
Medicine, physiologically impossible to commit suicide with pot;
however, as we all know, both cigarettes and alcohol, with extended
use, do kill. Actually it is well-known that one can suffer fatal
alcohol poisoning on a single (fifth-size) bottle of hard liquor.

* Contrary to the effects of alcohol, which suppresses inhibitions to
violence, those who smoke pot tend to avoid violence.

As for being a "gateway drug," the underlying rational for that
assertion is that one who acquires pot is introduced, by the dealer,
to the stronger drugs. If it were legalized, that circumstance would
be rendered moot, as one would acquire it from licensed dealers, such
as the local liquor store.

The economics of legalization and regulation are readily shown to be
both profitable (the California pot "industry" is currently estimated
to be about $10 billion per year) and capable of being a substantial
source of tax revenue. Plus, growers would no longer feel a need to
go to great, even deadly, lengths to hide and protect their crops.

From a law-enforcement perspective, police at all levels could focus
on real crimes against property and people. Many California
jurisdictions, and other states, have already put the pursuit of
pot-related crime at the lowest priority, unless violence ensues.

Further, the courts -- and prisons -- would no longer be burdened
with the vast expenses of pursuing and prosecuting pot crime.

Clearly the legal availability of pot would have a salutary effect on
the illegal trade, organized crime in America and abroad, and
including, of course, the Latin-American drug cartels and their ramification.

The psychological relief of having a demonstrably irrational body of
law and an inherently violent legal bureaucracy lifted from the books
could be immeasurable. The literally tens of millions of those
otherwise law-abiding citizens across the country who casually imbibe
would no longer be fearful of being branded as criminals, with all
the unavoidable consequences.

As a Reporter editorial ("Time to end war on drugs?" May 4) points
out, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that 46 percent of
all Americans favor legalization and, more important here in
California, a recent Pew poll shows that 56 percent of Californians
favor legalization -- and that's without any kind of factual
educational campaign.

A final word: Laws designed to assure that our children are protected
from those who would take advantage of their vulnerability to all
illegal drugs should be aggressively enforced. As virtually every
study has shown, drugs, especially pot, are readily available on
school campuses. The children, even into the elementary schools,
already "know" that pot propaganda is just that. Having juvenile
protection measures enforced with an even hand across all drugs would
lend considerable credibility to their merit among our youth.

It is about time we end this economically and socially destructive misadventure.