TOUGH APPROACH IS FAILING

Re: Mandatory sentence for pot is stinky business, Sept. 24.

When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences are proven
failures.

If harsh 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 tough laws, the U.S.
has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands where, as noted
by columnist Stephen Maher, marijuana is legal.

If the goal is to discourage unhealthy choices, there are
cost-effective alternatives. Thanks to public education, legal tobacco
use has declined considerably, without any need to criminalize smokers
or further enrich drug cartels through tobacco prohibition.

Robert Sharpe,

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