REEFER RECAP

[Re: "The Reefer Man," People, March 23, and "Reefer radness,"
Letters, March 30]: Lost in the debate over marijuana is the ugly
truth behind marijuana prohibition. North America's marijuana laws
are based on culture and xenophobia, not science. The original
marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican migration during the
early 1900s. Emily Murphy first warned Canadians about the dreaded
reefer and its association with non-white immigrants. The
sensationalist yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst led to
its criminalization in the United States.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. Whites did not even begin to smoke
marijuana until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began
funding reefer madness propaganda. When threatened, the drug war
gravy train predictably decries the "message" that drug policy reform
sends to children. There is a big difference between condoning
marijuana use and protecting children from drugs.

Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and
frees users from the stigma of criminal records. What's really needed
is a regulated market with age controls. As long as marijuana
distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will
continue to come into contact with addictive drugs like cocaine. This
"gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. Drug
policy reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to
think the children are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC