TIME TO STOP THE WAR ON DRUGS

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
use its criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer
marijuana to martinis. 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've built careers on confusing
drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.

The big losers in this battle are the American taxpayers.

Students who want to help end the intergenerational culture war
otherwise known as the war on some drugs should contact Students for
Sensible Drug Policy at http://www.ssdp.org.

Robert Sharpe