NO HEALTH REASON FOR BAN

Re: "You can't handle the truth -- A scientist set out to determine
which drugs are actually most dangerous, says Mark Pothier, and found
that the answers are, well, awkward," last Sunday Points.

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.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent. The only
clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless
tough-on-drugs politicians who have built careers confusing the drug
war's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C.