Pubdate: Mon, 25 Jun 2001
Source: Foster's Daily Democrat (NH)
Copyright: 2001 Geo. J. Foster Co.
Contact:  http://www.fosters.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/160
Author: Robert Sharpe, Program Officer The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy 
Foundation http://www.drugpolicy.org Washington, D.C.

WAR ON DRUGS IS A FAILED POLICY

To the editor:
The Supreme Court ruling against the use of thermal imaging highlights a 
major flaw in the drug war.

Simply put, it's not possible to wage a war against consensual vices unless 
privacy is completely eliminated, along with the Constitution. America can 
either be a free country or a "drug-free" country, but not both. The U.S. 
Supreme Court ruling stemmed from police use of thermal imaging to detect 
indoor grow lights used in marijuana cultivation. The drug war is in large 
part a war against marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. In 1999 
there were 704,812 arrests for marijuana, 620,541 for possession alone. For 
a drug that has never been shown to cause an overdose death, the allocation 
of resources used to enforce marijuana laws is outrageous.

Of course, a reform of marijuana laws would derail the entire drug war 
gravy train. Marijuana is demonized as a "gateway" drug that leads to 
harder drugs, when in fact marijuana prohibition is best described as a 
gateway policy. Illicit marijuana provides the black market contacts that 
introduce users to harder drugs like heroin. As for protecting children 
from drugs, the thriving black market has no age controls.

Taxing and regulating marijuana is a cost-effective alternative to spending 
tens of billions annually on a failed drug war. It makes no sense to waste 
scarce resources on failed policies that finance organized crime, 
facilitate the use of addictive hard drugs, and threaten to undermine 
America's Constitution.

Robert Sharpe Program Officer The Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation 
http://www.drugpolicy.org Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom