BETTER THAN ALCOHOL

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 federal
bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably. The US has higher rates
of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally
available to adults over 18. 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 following Virginia Law Review article provides a good overview of
the cultural roots of marijuana legislation:
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm

United Nations drug stats: http://www.unodc.org/

July 2008 World Health Organization survey study:
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi.1371/journal.pmed.0050141&ct=1&SESSIDo9045006b9979c06919d5e9fb373b0b

A comparative analysis of US vs. European rates of drug use can be found at:

http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf. MTF is funded
with US government grants

Comparative analysis of US vs. Dutch rates of drug use:
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC