REEFER MADNESS?

Few Americans realize that the United States may soon be one of 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 Jewish marijuana advocate Ed Rosenthal (Feb. 7 Bulletin).

By denying an officer of the City of Oakland the right to use California's
medical marijuana law and the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment protection
of states' rights 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 our government's bizarre
sense of 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, D.C.