SUBSIDISING DRUG CRIMES

GERALDINE MULLINS (Letters, 24/9) makes the common mistake of assuming that
punitive cannabis laws deter use. A study by the University of Michigan
reports that lifetime use of cannabis is higher in the United States than in
any European country, yet the US is one of the few Western countries that
wastes resources punishing those who prefer cannabis to alcohol.

Unlike alcohol, cannabis has never been shown to cause an overdose death,
nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term health
effects of cannabis are inconsequential compared with the long-term effects
of criminal records.

Unfortunately, cannabis represents the counter culture to misguided
reactionaries intent on legislating their version of morality. In
subsidising the prejudices of culture warriors, governments are
inadvertently subsidising organised 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 have built careers on confusing
drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.

ROBERT SHARPE, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington DC, US.