LETTER OF THE WEEK

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA THE BEST OPTION

By Wayne Phillips

This is in regard to Worth Richardson's column Wednesday, "The war on
drugs is not working; a new approach is needed."

Richardson succinctly hits the proverbial nail on the head when he
states, "It seems pretty clear America's war on drugs is very
inefficient and not working."

"We need, and I use the word 'all out war,' on all fronts," was
Richard Nixon's reaction to his national commission's recommendation
that marijuana no longer be a criminal offense, according to Nixon's
Oval Office tapes. The year after Nixon's "all out war" on marijuana,
arrests jumped by over 100,000.

The Nixon White House tapes from 1971-72 demonstrate that the
foundation of the modern war on marijuana was based on Nixonian
prejudice, culture war and misinformation.

The one fundamental difference that has changed dramatically is that
today's users are starting at a considerably younger age. This trend
began escalating correspondingly with Nixon's intensification of
marijuana prohibition as enforced by the then newly formed DEA (1973).

In 2005, the DEA seized a reported $1.4 billion in drug trade-related
assets and $477 million worth of drugs. However, according to the
White House's Office of Drug Control Policy, the total value of all
of the drugs sold in the U.S. is as much as $64 billion a year,
making the DEA's efforts to intercept the flow of drugs into and
within the U.S. less than 1 percent effective.

The notion of losing the war on drugs is only troubling (for some)
until it is realized that waging this "war" is, in effect,
allowing/giving de facto control of substances deemed illicit to
whosoever amasses the wherewithal by whatever means necessary to
produce and/or supply the demand for those substances -- just like
when alcohol prohibition ruled the day circa 1920 to 1933.

After several years, alcohol prohibition became a failure in North
America and elsewhere, as smuggling and bootlegging (rum-running)
became widespread and organized crime took control of the
distribution of alcohol.

As an article in the Wall Street Journal stated, "the biggest step
against Mexican cartels would be to simply legalize their main
product: marijuana, a cash crop that accounts for over half of their revenue."

Legalize, regulate, tax/licence and educate about cannabis marijuana;
it's the only feasible alternative remaining.

Wayne Phillips, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Pubdate: Tue, 5 Jan 2010

Source: Culpeper Star-Exponent (VA)

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n007/a06.html