KEEP IT UP NORML

The GW chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws is to be commended for taking on GW's zero-tolerance
stance against marijuana. It would appear that President Trachtenberg
has been deluded by the White House Office of National Drug Policy's
"reefer madness" revisited campaign. The marijuana plant has not
changed since Trachtenberg authored an article in 1972 arguing for
decriminalization. What has changed is the federal government's
willingness to lie and deceive to keep the drug war gravy train chugging along.

If health outcomes determined drug laws, instead of cultural norms,
marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been
shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive
properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail
cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as
deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to
Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the
American Medical Association.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to
smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began
funding "reefer madness" propaganda. By raiding voter-approved
medical marijuana providers in California, the very same Bush
administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is
forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers.

Apparently, marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting
the country from terrorism.

- -Robert Sharpe, alumnus and policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy