MARIJUANA PROHIBITION IS MISDIRECTED

Kudos to state Rep. Gary Lindstrom for an excellent June 13 column. 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. Like any
drug, 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 federal government 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:
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm.

Robert Sharpe Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.