FOCUS ON METH, NOT MARIJUANA

M.J. Andersen's Aug. 26 column ("U.S. drug policy a childish pursuit") was
right on target. While local governments are struggling with a
methamphetamine epidemic, the Office of National Drug Control Policy is
spending millions on a Reefer Madness-revisited ad campaign.

This reflects a bizarre sense of priorities. A National Association of
Counties survey found that the vast majority of county officials report
that methamphetamine is the biggest drug problem. Local law enforcement is
where the rubber meets the road -- these are the public-safety
professionals who deal with drug offenses on a daily basis, and it's not
marijuana that concerns them, but, rather, meth.

Meanwhile, an out-of-touch federal government continues to be obsessed with
marijuana, even going so far as to prosecute California patients who use
medical marijuana for relief.

The biggest lie to come out of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
is that new, potent strains of marijuana allegedly make pot a far more
dangerous drug than before. This is nonsense. The only difference between
weak and strong marijuana is that the strong kind requires significantly
less smoke inhalation to produce the desired effect. So it's actually less
harmful.

The tax dollars wasted on the Office of National Drug Control Policy's
misleading anti-marijuana campaign would be better spent on treatment for
methamphetamine addicts.

ROBERT SHARPE

Washington

The writer is policy analyst for the advocacy group Common Sense for Drug
Policy.