DRUG POLICY MADNESS

Regarding your Dec. 2 editorial on medical marijuana and the case Raich v.
Ashcroft, now before the U.S. Supreme Court ("Reefer madness"):

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. White Americans did not even begin to smoke
pot until an 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 cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of
street dealers. Apparently marijuana prohibition is more important than
protecting the country from terrorism.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug
Policy.