REEFER SANITY

The article on Louisiana's symbolic medical marijuana law ("The Best
Medicine?" Nov. 5) underscored the need for state-level medical marijuana
distribution systems free from federal intrusion. 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. An estimated 38 percent of Americans have now
smoked pot. Reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the
drug war gravy train to spend millions on politicized research.

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.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.