ARGUMENT GOES TO POT

Stephen Barringer confuses the effects of marijuana law enforcement
with the plant itself. To be fair, Mr. Barringer was quoting an
article in the once credible British newspaper The Independent and
may not have known that he was disseminating misinformation. The
truth is that Britain has followed the lead of US President George
"Orwell" Bush and is forcing casual marijuana smokers into government
treatment centers.

The resulting distortion of treatment statistics in both countries is
being used by shameless drug warriors to make the claim that
marijuana is addictive. Zero-tolerance laws do not distinguish
between occasional use and chronic abuse. The coercion of citizens
who prefer marijuana to martinis into treatment says a lot about
government priorities, but absolutely nothing about the relative
harms of cannabis.

After months of research, the Canadian Senate concluded in 2002 that
cannabis is relatively harmless, cannabis prohibition contributes to
organized crime and law enforcement efforts have little impact on
patterns of use. In the words of Senator Pierre Claude Nolin,
"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is
substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as
a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue."

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst, Common Sense For Drug Policy