PROTECT U.S. FROM TERRORISM, NOT MARIJUANA

Kudos to Andrew Lisa for his insightful column "The latest drug war is just
smoke and mirrors" (DJ-3/1) on John Ashcroft's marijuana jihad. While the
nation is under high alert for terrorism, our puritanical attorney general
has the Department of Justice wasting scarce resources in a nationwide hunt
for bongs. With long overdue marijuana law reform very likely in Canada,
the United States may soon be one the few Western countries that uses its
criminal justice system to punish otherwise law-abiding citizens who prefer
marijuana to martinis. Evidence of the U.S. government's reefer madness is
best exemplified by the Drug Enforcement Administration's paramilitary
raids on voter-approved medical marijuana providers in California. 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