PROHIBITION OF MARIJUANA FAILS

Kudos to Robert Sharpe from Drug Policy Alliance for his excellent letter
about misguided marijuana laws. Alcohol prohibition was one one of the
greatest public policy failures in U.S. history, yet the government
continues to wage an identical prohibition on marijuana that has been
consistently failing for more than 60 years. While terrorist organizations
are devising ways to attack our country, the government is putting huge
sums of money and resources into this policy that destroys the lives of
peaceful citizens and turns terminally ill patients into criminals.

On top of all this, the government continues to mislead the public about
the true effects of marijuana, hoping to justify their
disproportionately-harsh laws. With a dozen anti-marijuana ads that apply
much more to alcohol than marijuana, they make us believe that marijuana is
evil. However, they never acknowledge the damage to society caused by
alcohol and tobacco. For instance, alcohol and tobacco kill more than
500,000 people every year.

No one said you have to smoke marijuana -- you are better off if you don't.
But it's hypocritical to support legal alcohol and tobacco, yet support
persecution of peaceful citizens who use marijuana recreationally or as
medicine. We need to learn from history instead of repeating it, and start
arresting terrorists, not cancer patients.

Alan Reiner

sophomore in LAS