DRUG WAR EFFORTS ON MARIJUANA ILL-FOUNDED

Regarding Brian J. Mcfillen's Apr. 26th column ("Republicans must continue
to coalesce"), the drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the
most popular illicit drug. 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 the United States than 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 an overdose death,
nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term
health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term
effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents the
counterculture to many Americans. In subsidizing the prejudices of culture
warriors, government is subsidizing organized crime. 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 tough-on-drugs politicians who have built careers on confusing
drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The
big losers in this battle are the American 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 at www.ssdp.org.

-Robert Sharpe is a Policy Analyst for the non-profit organization Common
Sense for Drug Policy.