DRUG WAR IS FOOLISH, EXPENSIVE PRACTICE

With regard to Roberta Helming's May 6 column, 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 United States has higher rates of marijuana use than the
Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization
is long overdue. 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
such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a
direct result of marijuana prohibition.

ROBERT SHARPE

Washington, D.C.

Robert Sharpe is a policy analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Common
Sense for Drug Policy.