THE PROBLEM IS POT PROHIBITION

Contrary to John Walters's allegations ["The Myth of 'Harmless' Marijuana,"
op-ed, May 1], marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco.
About 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more
than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By
comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose.

According to the U.S. Institute of Medicine, fewer than one in 10 marijuana
smokers become regular users of the drug, and most voluntarily cease their
use after 34 years of age. By comparison, 15 percent of alcohol consumers
and 32 percent of tobacco smokers exhibit symptoms of drug dependence.

U.S. government-sponsored population studies conducted in Jamaica, Greece
and Costa Rica found no significant cognitive differences between long-term
marijuana smokers and nonsmokers. Similarly, a 1999 study of 1,300
volunteers published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reported "no
significant differences in cognitive decline between heavy users, light
users, and nonusers of cannabis" over a 15- year period. Most recently, a
meta-analysis of neuropsychological studies of long-term marijuana smokers
by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse reaffirmed this conclusion.

Perhaps the most offensive aspersions are those Walters casts toward the
medical use of marijuana by the seriously ill. The drug czar cynically
asks, "Is the American health care system . . . really being hobbled by a
lack of smoked medicines?" He'd be better off asking our nation's doctors.

According to a 2001 national survey of U.S. physicians conducted for the
American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors with
opinions support legalizing marijuana as a medicine. Moreover, no fewer
than 80 state and national health care organizations -- including the
American Public Health Association and the New England Journal of Medicine
- -- support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.

Walters is correct in suggesting that marijuana, like other drugs, is not
for kids. We permit adults to do many activities that we forbid children to
do, such as motorcycle riding, skydiving, signing contracts, getting
married, drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. But we do not condone
arresting adults who responsibly engage in these activities in order to
dissuade our children from doing so. Nor can we justify arresting adult
marijuana smokers at the pace of some 734,000 per year on the grounds of
sending a message to children.

More than 76 million Americans, roughly one-third of the adult population,
have smoked marijuana, and 18 million to 20 million admit having done so in
the past year. Most of these people are upstanding, hardworking and
productive citizens. They do not deserve to be treated like criminals.

Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself constitutes a legitimate
danger to public safety. Pot prohibition is a failed public policy that
wastes billions of dollars of law enforcement resources and that destroys
the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding
citizens each year. That's why 61 percent of Americans oppose arresting and
jailing marijuana smokers. Indeed, if there exists any true "myth"
regarding marijuana, it is that pot is more damaging to society than pot
prohibition.

- -- Keith Stroup and Paul Armentano

Stroup is founder and executive director of the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Armentano is its senior policy
analyst.