FARMERS VICTIM OF 'WAR ON DRUGS'

Regarding the editorial, "Industrial hemp: A better way to make
paper": The United States is one of the few countries in the world
that denies farmers the right to grow industrial hemp. Apparently drug
war bureaucrats can't tell the difference between a tall hemp stalk
and a squat marijuana bush. Prior to passage of the Marihuana Tax Act
of 1937, few Americans had even heard of marijuana, despite widespread
cultivation of industrial hemp.

The first anti-marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican
immigration during the early 1900s. White Americans did not even begin
to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began
funding reefer madness propaganda. Decades later, marijuana use is now
mainstream.

Prohibition has been counterproductive at best.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
marijuana would be legal. The direct experience of millions of
Americans contradicts the lies used to justify marijuana prohibition.
Reefer madness is a poor excuse for criminalizing Americans who prefer
marijuana to martinis. There is no excuse for denying farmers the
right to grow industrial hemp.

Robert Sharpe

MPA Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC