BRITAIN SETS EXAMPLE FOR MARIJUANA REFORM

Editor, Times-Dispatch: The U.S. could learn from Britain's commonsense
marijuana law reform. Based on findings that criminal records are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a
majority of European Union countries have decriminalized pot.

Despite harsh penalties and perhaps because of its forbidden-fruit appeal,
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the U.S. than in any European
country. America is one of the few Western countries that uses its criminal
justice system to destroy the lives of citizens who prefer marijuana to
martinis. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an
overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The
short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared with
the long-term effects of criminal records.

Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to misguided
reactionaries intent on forcibly imposing their version of morality. This
country cannot afford to continue subsidizing the prejudices of culture
warriors.

Robert Sharpe, Washington, D.C.