MARIJUANA LAWS ARE STEEPED IN PREJUDICE

Sheryl McCarthy's July 18 column on marijuana law reform in Britain was
right on target. 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 Americans with criminal
records. Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as
health interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a majority of European
Union countries has decriminalized marijuana, yet lifetime use of marijuana
is higher in the United States than any European country. If health
outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be
legal. 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 to the
long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents
the counterculture to misguided reactionaries in Congress intent on
legislating their version of morality. This country cannot afford to
continue subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors.

ROBERT SHARPE, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.