U.S. POT LAWS ROOTED IN RACISM

Editor of the Reformer:

Richard Davis is to be commended for raising awareness of the racist
roots of marijuana prohibition in his June 6 column. If health
outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana
would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to
cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of
tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration
during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical
Association.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke
pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding
reefer madness propaganda. By raiding voter-approved medical marijuana
providers in California, the very same U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is forcing
cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently
marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country
from terrorism.

The following Virginia Law Review article offers a good overview of
the cultural roots of marijuana legislation:
www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm.

For additional historical background please see the Canadian Senate
report:
www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/ille-e/rep-e/summary-e.pdf.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.