POT-BUST EDITORIAL WAS RIGHT ON TARGET

Your Jan. 19 editorial, "A troubling decision," on the Arizona marijuana
bust that led to the Supreme Court decision that "reasonable suspicion"
alone can justify a police search, was right on target.

The steady rise in police searches on public transit, drug-sniffing
dogs in schools and the testing of bodily fluids for drugs have led to
a profound loss of privacy, while failing miserably at preventing drug
use.

There is no evidence that an invasive drug war decreases use. If
anything, zero tolerance has the opposite effect.

Based on findings that criminal records do more harm than marijuana, a
majority of European Union countries have decriminalized such soft
drugs as pot. Despite harsh penalties and perhaps because of
forbidden-fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the
United States than any European country. Robert Sharpe Program
officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation Washington, D.C.