PROHIBITION MEANS MONEY

Who's smoking what in Washington?

Re: July 10 commentary "In the nation's drug war, sanity goes up in smoke."

Kathleen Parker's column made sense to any of us who weren't born
yesterday. The most commonly cited rationale by zealot
prohibitionists for waging the war against marijuana users is that it
has a host of adverse side effects. But if relative risk was the
criteria for defining outlawed drugs, we'd first prosecute use of
alcohol, tobacco and a bevy of pharmaceuticals.

Quite simply, the business of marijuana prohibition is big money for
a two exclusive groups.

The first is the criminal justice system. The tax dollars sucked up
by the drug war machine add up to more than $70 billion annually;
more than half of it is focused on marijuana prohibition. It's a
law-enforcement gravy train.

The second group is made up of those who enjoy mega-profits selling
marijuana on the street in a market that is 100 percent untaxed and
unregulated.

STEPHEN HEATH

Public relations director, Drug Policy Forum of Florida

Clearwater, Fla.