DRUG COURT A GOOD START, BUT SYSTEM NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

The Superior Court of Guam's Adult Drug Court is definitely a step in
the right direction. For non-violent offenders with chronic substance
abuse problems, drug treatment is a cost-effective alternative to
incarceration. Unfortunately, drug courts are being misused for
political purposes.

Record numbers of U.S. citizens arrested for marijuana possession have
been forced into treatment by the criminal justice system. The
resulting distortion of treatment statistics is used by drug czar John
Walters to make the claim that marijuana is "addictive."

Zero-tolerance drug laws do not distinguish between occasional use and
chronic abuse. The coercion of Americans who prefer marijuana to
martinis into taxpayer-funded treatment centers says a lot about U.S.
government priorities, but absolutely nothing about the relative harms
of marijuana.

For an objective take on marijuana, look to Canada. In the words of
Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly
indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and
should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public
health issue."

ROBERT SHARPE, MPA

policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy