STUDYING MARIJUANA

Re "Prescribe pot?" Our views, Nov. 1: Marijuana prohibition itself should
be subjected to a cost-benefit analysis. Unfortunately, such a review 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. The majority of white Americans did not begin to smoke
marijuana until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began
funding reefer madness propaganda. These dire warnings that marijuana
inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best.

An estimated 38 percent of Americans have now smoked pot. The reefer
madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war gravy train
to spend millions on research seeking to find harm in a relatively harmless
plant.

California patients may be protected, but medical marijuana providers
aren't. The same federal government that claims illicit drug use funds
terrorism is forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street
dealers. Apparently, marijuana laws are more important than protecting the
country from terrorism.

- - Julie Ruiz-Sierra, Sacramento

Associate Director, Policy Analysis, Drug Policy Alliance