MARIJUANA POLICY NEEDS REFORM

Stan White has a good point ("Cannabis not evil," Feb. 28, p. 4) that
D.A.R.E. is in many ways a policy failure, in particular in regard to
marijuana. However, he misses the opportunity to point out the wider scope
of the failures of marijuana prohibition. Although 100 million Americans
admit to having tried marijuana and 72 percent of them think that its users
should not be jailed, the United States continues to spend billions of
dollars a year trying to eliminate the use of a drug whose harmful effects
are arguably less severe than those of alcohol or tobacco.

It is hard to think of who would be hurt by a legalization of marijuana.
Any high schooler can tell you that it's harder to buy alcohol than pot,
and prices continue to drop. So supply is hardly being interrupted by
prohibition. Legalization could only lead to an increased ability to
control the drug trade, bring it out of the shadows of the black market and
deal with its admitted negative effects.

Meanwhile, it is easy to see what prohibition has gained us. More than 7
million people have been arrested on charges related to marijuana since
1993, including more than 750,000 in 2003. Taxpayers like you and me
currently pay to put up to 77,000 marijuana offenders in the Hotel Federal
Penitentiary.

The Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org) estimates that the war on pot
costs us $12 billion dollars a year. Is it worth it?

If you don't want your tax dollars flushed down the Drug War toilet, I
recommend supporting groups like the MPP who work for a more sensible drug
policy. Additionally, the Boston University Libertarian Society will be
having a "pot brownie" (disclaimer: the brownies contain no actual
marijuana) sale in the George Sherman Union today to support the MPP.

Let's send our ill-conceived drug policy up in smoke.

Chris Vermilion,

ENG/CAS '06

Treasurer

BU Libertarian Society