REEFER MADNESS IN D.C.

Few Americans realize that 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
kangaroo court trial of Ed Rosenthal. By denying an officer of the City of
Oakland the ability to use California's medical-marijuana law as a defense,
the judge foisted a predetermined guilty verdict onto a grossly misinformed
jury.

The federal government's paramilitary raids on voter-approved
medical-marijuana providers in California says a lot about Attorney General
John Ashcroft's bizarre sense of priorities. The very same attorney general
who 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

MPA PROGRAM OFFICER

DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE

WASHINGTON, D.C.