CHRONIC INJUSTICE

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is to be commended for making the case for
marijuana decriminalization ["Quebec's happy stoners," July 18]. Jailing
citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis is not a good use of tax dollars.

There is no evidence that punitive marijuana laws do anything other than
burden otherwise law-abiding Canadians with criminal records. Consider the
experience of the United States, the former land of the free and current
record holder in citizens incarcerated.

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 draconian penalties and
perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is
higher in the U.S. than any European country.

The latest drug war fiasco to come out of the U.S. is "compassionate
coercion." This expansion of zero tolerance does not distinguish between
occasional use and chronic abuse. Jail sentences and open-ended drug
testing will be applied exclusively to consumers of non-traditional drugs
like marijuana. Alcoholics and nicotine addicts need not worry about
President George W. Bush's legendary "compassion."

Marijuana prohibition is not based on health outcomes, but rather cultural
norms. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose
death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Simply put,
marijuana represents the counterculture to misguided reactionaries intent
on legislating their version of morality. Canada should follow the lead of
Europe and Just Say No to the American Inquisition.

The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug use
can be found at: www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf

- -Robert Sharpe, M.P.A., Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, DC