OUTLAWING MARIJUANA COUNTERPRODUCTIVE AT BEST

If health outcomes, instead of cultural norms, determined
drug laws, marijuana would be legal (Editorial: Pot a Health
Issue Regardless of Law, Sept. 13). Writing under the pen
name Janey Canuck in the early 1900s, Emily Murphy warned
Canadians about the dread reefer and its association with
dark-skinned minorities. Almost 100 years later, Canada
leads the industrialized world in marijuana consumption.
Prohibition has been counterproductive at best.

What started as a racist reaction to immigration has morphed into a
global culture war, with Canada's southern neighbour leading the
charge. The war on some drugs has given the (former) land of the free
the highest incarceration rate in the world, yet lifetime use of
marijuana is higher in the U.S. than in any European country. There is
a good reason millions of people prefer marijuana to martinis.

Marijuana is easily the least harmful recreational drug, legal or
otherwise. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.
Medical science tells us that jail cells are inappropriate as health
interventions. History shows they are ineffective as deterrents. It's
time for Canada to just say no to the American Inquisition.

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

The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug
use can be found at the following website of an organization funded by
U.S. government grants: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf

For United Nations statistics, go to
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/global_illicit_drug_trends.html

Robert Sharpe, MPA

policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC

www.csdp.org