'WAR ON DRUGS' HELPING NO ONE

Kudos to James Mack Jr. for writing an excellent column ("Drug
decriminalization will benefit nations, abusers," The Triangle, Feb.
13, p. 13). The drug war is largely 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.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose
death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. 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 drugs are drug cartels and shameless
tough-on-drugs politicians who have built careers on confusing drug
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.
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 http://www.ssdp..org.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy