REEFER MADNESS

Regarding your Oct. 9 editorial, 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. Marijuana can
be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health
interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent. The United
States has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where
possession of marijuana is decriminalized. Students who want to help
end the inter-generational culture war otherwise known as the war on
some drugs should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at
www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com.

Robert Sharpe

policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy