DRUG WAR ADS MISLEAD PUBLIC

To the Cigar,

The drug czar's reefer madness revisited ads covered in your excellent April
23 editorial first premiered amidst beer commercials during the Super Bowl.

Among the more dishonest ads are sensationalist commercials that seek to
link the war on terror to the war on drugs. The illicit drug of choice in
America is domestically grown marijuana, not Colombian cocaine or Afghan
heroin. The drug czar's misleading drug-terror ads may lead Americans to
mistakenly conclude that marijuana smokers are somehow responsible for the
tragic events of September 11. That's likely no accident.

Taxing and regulating marijuana would render the drug war obsolete. As long
as marijuana remains illegal and distributed by organized crime, consumers
will continue to come into contact with hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.
For obvious reasons, government bureaucrats whose jobs depend on
never-ending drug war prefer to blame the plant itself for the alleged
"gateway" to hard drugs.

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.

Sincerely,

Robert Sharpe,

M.P.A. Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.