DEA RAIDS HELP CARTELS

(Re: "The DEA's dartboard," In Case You Missed It, Feb. 18.) The U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration certainly seems intent on subsidizing
organized crime. Colorado's medical marijuana law allows patients to
purchase marijuana of known quality from dispensaries that generate
tax revenue.

Mexican drug cartels are no doubt thrilled with the DEA's efforts to
shut it all down. Does helping organized crime maintain a monopoly on
marijuana distribution somehow benefit taxpayers?

Let's not kid ourselves and pretend that marijuana prohibition does
anything other than provide artificial price supports for cartels.
The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands,
where marijuana is legally available. Eliminating a medical marijuana
cottage industry only to have it replaced by organized crime groups
that sell cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine is not a good thing.

When does President Obama intend to live up to his campaign promise
to stop the DEA raids? If Colorado's burgeoning medical marijuana
industry is a reliable indicator, the number of marijuana consumers
out there is far bigger than previously imagined. Obama would be wise
to honor his commitments if he wants to serve a second term. The
excitement among marijuana reform advocates that preceded his
election is turning into a sense of betrayal.

United Nations drug stats: www.unodc.org/. Comparative analysis of
U.S. vs. Dutch rates of drug use: www. drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm.

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