POT DECRIMINALIZED IN SEVERAL U.S. STATES

It's always amusing to me how the U.S. never seems to worry about credibility.

Stories such as Loosen pot laws and face tighter border, U.S. warns (Dec.
13), might carry more weight if we didn't already know 10 to 11 states have
had similar legislation for almost 20 years. Alaska, California, Colorado,
Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon and New
Mexico. That's one-fifth of that country's states, containing one-third of
its population.

The Rand Corporation, which is sponsored by and client to various U.S.
government offices (http://www.rand.org/about/majorspons.html) conducted a
study in 1993 that compared drug use in states that had decriminalized
marijuana to those that had not.

They found where marijuana was more available -- the states that had been
decriminalized 15-20 years -- there has been an overwhelmingly favourable
experience.

Hard drug use, as measured by emergency room episodes, decreased, as did
alcohol use, with the result fatal highway accidents dropped. And, contrary
to fears expressed by some, marijuana use rates are the same in states that
decriminalized pot possession as in states where marijuana smokers are
still arrested.

Nor has there been any change in attitudes toward marijuana use among young
people (high school seniors) in those states.

In short, the U.S. has its own evidence that they can stop arresting
marijuana smokers and perhaps realize a tighter border with Canada will
achieve about the same results as their own decriminalized state borders.

Bill McGrath

London