COSTLY HYSTERIA OVER A PLANT

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.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican
immigration. White 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. The only clear winners in
the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless, tough-on-drugs
politicians who've built careers confusing the drug war's collateral
damage with a relatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe,

Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, DC