MARIJUANA SHOULD BE REGULATED LIKE BOOZE

'It Makes No Sense To Waste Tax Dollars On Failed Drug Policies'

Re: Personal toking and snorting legalized, by Gwynne Dyer, Sept.
10-Sept.16, 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 illicit heroin use. The success of
the Swiss program has inspired heroin maintenance pilot projects in
Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark 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 is controlled by
organized crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will
continue to come into contact with sellers of addictive drugs like
methamphetamine.

Marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol; it makes no sense to
waste tax dollars on failed drug 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, read the
British Medical Journal report:
bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310

To learn more about Canada's heroin maintenance research, visit naomistudy.ca .

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington