MARIJUANA LAWS WASTE RESOURCES

In "A doctor's case for legal pot" (Oct. 30), Tom Moran discusses the
failure of marijuana prohibition and presents an excellent argument
for the removal of criminal penalties for its use.

Nearly 50 percent of Americans have tried marijuana at some point in
their lives. The overwhelming majority of those use it casually,
inflict absolutely no harm in the process and never progress to
addiction or the use of serious drugs. In fact, less than 10 percent
of those who try marijuana will ever develop a substance abuse disorder.

Despite this reality, we continue spending huge amounts of time and
money pursuing policies that needlessly criminalize almost half our citizenry.

Jimmy Carter once said, "Penalties against drug use should not be
more damaging to an individual than the use of a drug itself." Is
prohibition really worth the billions of taxpayer dollars, sizable
law enforcement resources and wasted lives that it commands?

Elizabeth Thompson, Policy associate, Drug Policy Alliance in Trenton