REGULATING MARIJUANA WOULD BE BETTER THAN PROHIBITING IT

Letter to the Editor

Targeting rave dance parties will not protect children from drugs. Ecstasy
is the latest illegal drug to be making headlines, but it won't be the last
until politicians acknowledge the drug war's inherent failure. Drug
policies modeled after America's disastrous experiment with alcohol
prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug
dealers do not ID for age, but they do push trendy, profitable "club drugs"
like ecstasy, regardless of the dangers posed.

There are cost-effective alternatives. In Europe, the Netherlands has
successfully reduced overall drug use by replacing marijuana prohibition
with regulation. Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing
age controls for marijuana has proven more effective than zero tolerance.
Although pot is arguably safer than alcohol -- the plant has never been
shown to cause an overdose death -- marijuana prohibition is deadly. As the
most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the black market contacts
that introduce users to hard drugs like heroin. Taxing and regulating
marijuana is a cost-effective alternative to the $50 billion drug war.

Robert Sharpe

Program officer, the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C.