Pubdate: Thu, 28 Dec 2000
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2000 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  75 Fountain St., Providence RI 02902
Website: http://www.projo.com/
Author: Robert Sharpe
Note: The writer is program officer of the Lindesmith Center-Drug 
Policy Foundation.

TO PROTECT CHILDREN, LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Regarding the excellent Dec. 16 editorial ("Allow medical 
marijuana"), the plant has been used medicinally for thousands of 
years. In 1999, a government-commissioned Institute of Medicine 
report concluded that there are limited circumstances in which 
smoking marijuana for medical uses is recommended. Marijuana is one 
of the most studied plants around. Nonetheless, entrenched interests 
riding the drug war gravy train continue to claim further research is 
needed.

Not only should medical marijuana be made available, but adult 
recreational use should be regulated as well. The reason for this is 
simple: leaving the distribution of popular recreational drugs in the 
hands of organized crime puts children at great risk. The thriving 
black market is very much youth oriented.

Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age, but they do push profitable, 
addictive drugs like heroin. Sensible regulation is desperately 
needed to undermine the black market and restrict access to drugs.

Marijuana is the most popular illicit drug. Compared to legal alcohol 
and tobacco, marijuana is relatively harmless. Yet marijuana 
prohibition is deadly. While there is nothing inherent in marijuana 
that compels users to use harder drugs, its black market status puts 
users in contact with criminals who push them. Current drug policy is 
effectively a gateway policy. As counterintuitive as it may seem, 
replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation would do a better job 
protecting children than the failed drug war. As for medical 
marijuana, doctors should decide what is best for their patients, not 
drug warriors or fear-mongering politicians.
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