"How Not to Write a Law," City of Warts, 5/14

ALLURE OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

The United States is one of the few Western countries that uses its
criminal justice system to punish otherwise law-abiding citizens who prefer
marijuana to martinis. Based on findings that criminal records are
inappropriate as health interventions, a majority of European Union
countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition and
perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is
higher in the US than any European country.

Evidence of the US government's reefer madness is best exemplified by the
kangaroo court trial of Ed Rosenthal. By denying an officer of the City of
Oakland the ability to use California's medical marijuana law and the US
Constitution's Tenth Amendment protection of states' rights as a defense,
Federal Judge Charles Breyer foisted a predetermined guilty verdict onto a
grossly misinformed jury.

The Drug Enforcement Administration's paramilitary raids on voter-approved
medical marijuana providers say a lot about US government priorities. The
very same federal government 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.

Robert Sharpe, program officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, DC