HARSH LAWS DON'T DETER USE

Regarding Christopher Mulligan's May 12 Insight article about the
absurdity of Florida's war on marijuana smokers during an ongoing
recession: There is no evidence that harsh laws deter marijuana use.
Three-year mandatory minimums for certain marijuana offenses may sound
good on paper, but, as a matter of practice, mandatory minimums are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

Based on findings that criminal records do more harm than marijuana, a
majority of European Union countries have decriminalized pot. Despite
harsh penalties and perhaps because of forbidden-fruit appeal,
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in any
European country. (The results of a comparative study of European and
U.S. rates of drug use can be found at:
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf)

The war on some drugs has done little other than give rise to a
massive prison-industrial complex. Decriminalization acknowledges the
social reality of marijuana use and frees users from the
life-shattering stigma of criminal records. What's really needed is a
regulated market with enforceable age controls.

Marijuana may be relatively harmless compared with alcohol -- pot has
never been shown to cause an overdose death -- but marijuana
prohibition is deadly. As long as marijuana distribution remains in
the hands of organized crime, consumers will continue to come into
contact with hard drugs like cocaine.

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

STATE-IMPOSED AGGRESSION

I applaud the Orlando Sentinel for publishing Christopher Mulligan's
passionate and important article, "Despite ongoing recession in
Florida, the state funds harsher marijuana laws." I propose that all
the legislators who vote for keeping marijuana illegal should be
required to answer, under sworn testimony, whether they've ever used
the plant. If they admit to using it even one time in their lives,
they should be required to pay the fine and/or do the time their laws
mandate. Then let us see how long it takes to reverse these
unconstitutional and life-destroying laws.

Criminalizing marijuana use breeds hypocrisy in our leaders and ruins
the lives of many citizens, especially the economically disadvantaged
who can't afford expensive private legal defense.

It's doubtful that anyone has ever died from smoking marijuana, yet
many in power feel it necessary to continue this state-imposed
aggression on a good portion of our population because of a relatively
new idea in our American culture that "getting high" is criminal.

What is truly criminal are these laws, laws that one day, I believe,
will be seen as oppressive and unconstitutional.

ROBERT SULLIVAN
New Smyrna Beach