THE MARIJUANA INQUISITION

The Health Ministry is to be commended for granting a terminally-ill cancer
patient permission to smoke marijuana to ease his suffering. Not only
should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but the
marijuana prohibition itself should be subjected to a thorough cost-benefit
analysis. There is no evidence that punitive marijuana laws do anything
other than burden otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal records.

Consider the experience of the United States, the former record holder in
citizens incarcerated.

The steady rise in policing has led to a loss of civil liberties, while
failing miserably at preventing drug use.

Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as health
interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a majority of European Union
countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite the American marijuana
prohibition and perhaps because of forbidden-fruit appeal, lifetime use of
marijuana is higher in the U.S. than any European country.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause death by overdose,
nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Unfortunately,
marijuana represents the counterculture to misguided reactionaries intent
on legislating their version of morality.

Israel should follow the lead of Europe and Just Say No to the American
Inquisition.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Drug PolicyAlliance

Washington, D.C.