STUDENT GROUP TO BE COMMENDED

To the Editor:

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is to be commended for raising awareness
of the War on Drugs' collateral damage. It is in large part a war on
marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, but in reality marijuana
prohibition has done little other than burden millions of otherwise
law-abiding citizens with criminal records. The University of Michigan's
Monitoring the Future study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher
in America than in any European country, yet America is one of the few
Western countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish citizens
who prefer marijuana to martinis.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause overdose
deaths. The short-term health effects of marijuana use are
inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records.
Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to many
Americans. The drug war's distortion of immutable laws of supply and
demand make an easily grown weed literally worth its weight in gold.

The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and
shameless politicians who've built careers on confusing drug
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The
big losers in this battle are the US taxpayers who have been deluded
into believing big government is the appropriate response to
non-traditional consensual vices. Students who want to help reform
harmful drug laws should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Robert Sharpe, '91