DRUG WAR HAS BIG WINNERS, LOSERS

Regarding Bradley Aldrich's 4/20 column, the drug war is in large part a
war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. Punitive marijuana
laws have little, if any, deterrent value.

The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European
country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that uses its
criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis.

The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to
the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana
represents the counterculture to many Americans.

In subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors, the U.S. government is
subsidizing organized crime.

The drug war's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand make an
easily grown weed literally worth its weight in gold.

The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and
shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers on confusing drug
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.

The big losers in this battle are the American taxpayers deluded into
believing big government is the appropriate response to non-traditional
consensual vices.

Students who want to help end the intergenerational culture war, otherwise
known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for Sensible Drug
Policy at www.ssdp.org

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC