REEFER MADNESS, 2004

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms,
marijuana would be legal.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death,
nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.
Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as
health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration
during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical
Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have
been counterproductive at best. Whites did not even begin to smoke pot
until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer
madness propaganda.

By raiding voter-approved medical marijuana providers in California, the
very same U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that claims illicit drug use
funds terrorism is forcing sick patients into the hands of street dealers.

Apparently marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the
country from terrorism.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.