TAX POT INSTEAD OF OUTLAWING IT

To the editor:

Re: "Medical Marijuana: Feds shouldn't go after patients who use pot," The
Monitor View, April 28.

Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but
adult recreational use should be regulated. Drug policies modeled after
alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market.
Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune to
adult sentences. So much for protecting the children.

Throwing more money at the drug problem is no solution. Attempts to limit
supply while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of
trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads
desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.
The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

Taxing and regulating marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, is a
cost-effective alternative to never-ending drug war. As long as marijuana
distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will
continue to come into contact with hard drugs.
This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than alcohol -- the plant has never
been shown to cause an overdose death -- it makes no sense to waste tax
dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and facilitate hard
drug use. 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

Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.