CULTURE WARRIORS

Gov. Jeb Bush would be doing a lot more crying if his daughter Noelle had
been given a lengthy mandatory minimum sentence for her drug offense
instead of a treatment referral. Fortunately for Noelle, her drug of choice
was prescription Xanax and not crack cocaine. Prison cells are hardly
appropriate health interventions for illicit drugs.

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 drugs like 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 the '60s counterculture to reactionaries in Congress 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.

The writer is program officer with the Drug Policy Alliance.