WHY PROHIBIT MARIJUANA?

Dear Editor:

(Re: "My good friend and the foolish war on drugs," by John Colson,
Aspen Times Weekly, Sept. 30)

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
immigration 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 U.S. Drug Enforcement 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.

The following Virginia Law Review article offers a good overview of
the cultural roots of marijuana legislation:
www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.