DRUG WAR AMOUNTS TO CULTURAL INQUISITION

Re: "Jail the drug dealers, free the users" by Jon Ungphakorn (BP,
May 4). Perhaps the best example of drug war failure is the United
States' experience with marijuana. Despite zero tolerance, the US has
higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is
legally available.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
marijuana would be legal. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not
a public health campaign.

Children of drug war inmates are at risk of educational failure,
joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose
out, but society as a whole does, too. Incarcerating non-violent drug
offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing
them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behaviour.

Turning drug users into unemployable ex-cons is a senseless waste of
tax money. It is time to declare peace in the failed drug war and
begin treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public
health problem which it is.

Destroying the families and future of citizens who make unhealthy
choices doesn't benefit anyone. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is
worse. For UN drug statistics, visit .

ROBERT SHARPE, MPA

Common Sense for Drug Policy, www.csdp.org