CULTURE WARRIORS

So the Drug Enforcement Administration hopes to get tough on hemp pretzels,
snack bars and veggie burgers and the Eugene-based Merry Hempsters business
is now in jeopardy ("Ignorning Reality," 3/14). The government's attempt to
categorize health food alongside heroin seems even more absurd when placed
in a historical context. Prior to the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of
1937 few Americans had heard of marijuana, despite widespread cultivation
of its non-intoxicating cousin, industrial hemp.

The first marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican immigration
during the early 1900s, passed in large part due to sensationalist yellow
journalism. Incredibly violent acts were allegedly committed by minorities
under marijuana's influence. White Americans did not even begin smoking pot
until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer
madness propaganda.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been
counterproductive at best. An estimated 38 percent 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.

Unlike alcohol, pot has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor
does it share the addictive properties of nicotine. Unfortunately,
marijuana has come to represent '60s counterculture to misguided
reactionaries intent on legislating their version of morality. This country
cannot afford to continue subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors to
the tune of $50 billion annually.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.