DRUG WAR FUELS CRIME

To the editor:

Regarding your Jan. 5 editorial, "Medical marijuana," not only should
medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult
recreational use should be regulated.

Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a
youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age,
but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences.

So much for protecting the children.

Throwing more money at the problem is no solution. Attempts to limit
the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only
increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs
like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to
increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war
doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

Taxing and regulating marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, is a
cost-effective alternative to a never-ending drug war. As long as
marijuana distribution is controlled by criminals, consumers will
continue to come into contact with hard drugs like methamphetamine.
This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than alcohol -- the plant has
never been shown to cause an overdose death -- it makes no sense to
waste tax dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and
facilitate hard drug use. 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, Arlington, Va.,

The Writer Is A Policy Aanalyst For Washington, D.C.-Based Common
Sense For Drug Policy.