MARIJUANA IS HELPFUL, NOT HARMFUL

Dan Whisenhunt's thoughtful Feb. 3 op-ed underscored the need for
state-level medical marijuana distribution systems free from federal
intrusion. Marijuana prohibition itself should be subjected to a
cost-benefit analysis. Unfortunately, a review of marijuana legislation
would open up a Pandora's box most politicians would just as soon avoid.
America's marijuana laws are based on culture and xenophobia, not science.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration
during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical
Association. White Americans did not even begin to smoke marijuana until a
soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness"
propaganda.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. An estimated 38 percent of Americans have smoked
pot. The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug
war gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research,
trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant.

The direct experience of millions of Americans contradicts the
sensationalistic myths used to justify marijuana prohibition. Illegal drug
use is the only public health issue wherein key stakeholders are not only
ignored, but actively persecuted and incarcerated. In terms of medical
marijuana, those stakeholders happen to be cancer and AIDS patients.
California patients may be protected, but medical marijuana providers aren't.

By raiding the state's voter-approved suppliers, the very same Drug
Enforcement Administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is
forcing sick patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently,
marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country from
terrorism. Students interested in helping end the intergenerational culture
war, otherwise known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for
Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org.

Robert Sharpe

Program officer, Drug Policy Alliance