LETTER OF THE WEEK

END WAR ON MARIJUANA

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) famously defined insanity as "doing the
same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Nothing better describes the war on drugs. The 40-year war on drugs
has cost U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion, thousands of lives and broken
up families and failed to meet any of its goals.

Cocaine, heroin and marijuana were sold in drug stores without a
prescription as medicine and treated as such in the early years of
the last century. Yet the deadly drug of tobacco is legal (because
it's taxed) which kills hundreds of thousands a year.

Sadly many in law enforcement have died from this deadly drug. The
good news is that many in law enforcement are joining Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition. Marijuana needs to be legalized and not
advertised (glorified). This would reduce the use of other
drugs. Prohibition only helps the gangs. It's good for their business.

Good sources of information on this issue are Marijuana Policy
Project, www.mpp.org, and Drug Policy Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org,
for a start.

Kevin Doran

Ogdensburg

Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jul 2010

Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY)