WAR ON MARIJUANA PROVES LOST CAUSE

Dear Editor,

If health consequences determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
marijuana would be legal. 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 rages have been counterproductive at best.

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.
Students who want to help end the intergenerational-culture-war,
otherwise known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for
Sensible Drug Policy at www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com.

Other suggested Web sites to learn the facts about marijuana use
include:

United Nations drug stats: www.unodc.org/

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

The Virginia Law Review's overview of the cultural roots of marijuana
legislation: www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm

Robert Sharpe