EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA NOT SO CUT AND DRY

Dear Editor,

Thank you for covering both sides of the marijuana debate in your Nov. 21
article. It's important to note that punitive marijuana laws have little,
if any, deterrent value. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future
Study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States
than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries
that uses its criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer
marijuana to martinis. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to
cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.

The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to
the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana
represents the counterculture to misguided reactionaries in Congress intent
on legislating their version of morality. In subsidizing the prejudices of
culture warriors the government is inadvertently subsidizing organized
crime. The drug war's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand
make an easily grown weed literally worth its weight in gold.

The only clear winners in the war on some drugs are drug cartels and
shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers on confusing drug
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The big
losers in this battle are the American taxpayers who have been deluded into
believing big government is the appropriate response to non-traditional
consensual vices. Students interested in helping reform drug laws should
contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org.

Sincerely,

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

http://www.drugpolicy.org