CRIMINAL RECORDS ARE INAPPROPRIATE AS HEALTH INTERVENTIONS

Dear Editor,

Zara Gelsey's June 18 article on America's reefer madness crusade (Issue #
4.23) was right on target. 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
harsh penalties and perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use
of marijuana is higher in the US than any European country. A cost-benefit
analysis of marijuana prohibition is long overdue.

Unfortunately, a review of marijuana legislation would open up a Pandora's
box most politicians would just as soon avoid. America's marijuana laws are
based on culture and xenophobia, not science. If health research determined
drug laws, 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. An estimated 38% of Americans have now smoked pot.
The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug war
gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research,
trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant. Meanwhile, research
that might demonstrate the medical efficacy of marijuana is consistently
blocked.

The direct experience of millions of Americans contradicts the
sensationalistic myths used to justify marijuana prohibition. Illegal drug
use is the only public health issue wherein key stakeholders are not only
ignored, but actively persecuted and incarcerated. In terms of medical
marijuana, those stakeholders happen to be cancer and AIDS patients.

Sincerely, Robert Sharpe

Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance

http://www.drugpolicy.org/