JUSTICE SYSTEM TO PUNISH CITIZENS WHO PREFER MARIJUANA TO
MARTINIS

Dear Editor,

John Bream [in March 2's "Living in a culture of fear"] makes the
common mistake of assuming punitive marijuana laws actually reduce
use. 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.

Robert Sharpe,

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Arlington, Va.