PENALTIES DON'T DETER DRUG USE

If harsh criminal penalties deterred illicit drug use, Canada's
southern neighbour would be a "drug-free" America. That's not the
case. The U.S. drug war has done little other than give the land of
the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. Despite zero
tolerance, the U.S. has double the rate of marijuana use as the
Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available.

Thanks to public education efforts, legal tobacco use has declined
considerably in recent years, without any need to criminalize smokers.
Apparently mandatory minimum prison sentences, civil asset forfeiture,
random drug testing and racial profiling are not necessarily the most
cost-effective means of discouraging unhealthy choices. Drug abuse is
bad, but the drug war is worse.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.