DRUG POLICIES ARE FLAWED

Re: Quit Making Criminals Out of Pot Smokers - July 14.

Lost in the debate over marijuana is the ugly truth behind marijuana
prohibition. North America's marijuana laws are based on culture and
xenophobia, not science.

The first marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican migration
during the early 1900s. Writing under the pen name Janey Canuck,
Emily Murphy first warned Canadians about the dread reefer and its
association with non-white immigrants. The sensationalist yellow
journalism of William Randolph Hearst led to its criminalization in
the United States.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. Whites did not even begin to smoke
marijuana until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began
funding reefer madness propaganda. When threatened, the drug war
gravy train predictably decries the "message" that drug policy reform
sends to children. There is a big difference between condoning
marijuana use and protecting children from drugs.

Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and
frees users from the stigma of criminal records. What's really needed
is a regulated market with age controls. Separating the hard and soft
drug markets is critical.

As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized
crime, consumers will continue to come into contact with addictive
drugs like cocaine. This "gateway" is the direct result of a
fundamentally flawed policy. Drug policy reform may send the wrong
message to children, but I like to think the children are more
important than the message.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.