WEEDWHACKED!

The "smoke a joint, lose your license" law covered in your June 12 article
["Bushwhacked!"] was created at a time when former drug czar William
Bennett felt a need to "create consequences" for marijuana
smokers--consequences like denying them the opportunity to function as
productive, taxpaying members of society. Like any drug, marijuana can be
harmful if abused, but forced unemployment and criminal records are hardly
appropriate health interventions.

Diet is the No. 1 determinant of health outcomes. Do we really want big
government monitoring everything that goes into our bodies? And if it is
the proper role of government to punish citizens for unhealthy choices, why
target marijuana? Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause
an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of nicotine.

Unfortunately, marijuana represents '60s counterculture to reactionaries in
Congress intent on forcibly imposing their version of morality. The United
States now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, in large part
due to the war on some drugs. At an average cost of $25,071 per inmate
annually, maintaining the world's largest prison system can hardly be
considered fiscally conservative. This country cannot afford to continue
subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors.

Robert Sharpe

Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.