ONGOING CULTURE WAR AGAINST POT IN U.S. A FAILURE THAT SHOULD
END

Regarding Robert DeRego's thoughtful June 4 Coastal Voices piece,
"The case for cannabis," 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.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC.