MARIJUANA PROHIBITION DEADLY

Regarding Richard Evans' thoughtful April 29 oped ("100 years of
marijuana prohibition"), the drug war is largely a war on marijuana
smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United
States, almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state
and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and
teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources
criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end
result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of
use.

The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where
marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a long overdue
step in the right direction. Taxing and regulating marijuana would
render the drug war obsolete. As long as organized crime controls
distribution, marijuana consumers will come into contact with sellers
of hard drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. This "gateway"
is a direct result of marijuana prohibition. Marijuana may be
relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

ROBERT SHARPE,

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC