MARIJUANA PROHIBITION MAKES MATTERS WORSE

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, all
marijuana use would be legal "Medical marijuana law could turn N.J.
into a new kind of medicine chest," June 13). 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.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican
immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the
American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires
homicidal rage have been counterproductive at best. Americans did not
even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal
bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent. The U.S.
has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where
marijuana is legally available to adults over 18. 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, MPA,

Washington, D.C.

The writer is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy
(csdp.org).