DRUG WAR WASTES VALUABLE RESOURCES

Your March 9th editorial was right on target. 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. 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 www.ssdp.org
(http://www.ssdp.org/.

The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug use
can be found at http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf

Robert Sharpe,

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy