Pubdate: Tue, 30 Jan 2001
Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 Hacker Press Ltd.
Contact:  604-853-9808
Website: http://www.abbynews.com/
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n149/a03.html

Regarding the Jan. 25 Abbotsford News article on the "Operation Norfolk" 
cross-border probe that yielded numerous arrests ('Abbotsford link to 
'Norfolk' bust,').  Government interdiction efforts only make marijuana 
trafficking more profitable.  Thanks to the drug war's distortion of basic 
supply and demand dynamics, an easily grown weed is literally worth its 
weight in gold in cities in the U.S.  With money practically growing on 
trees, any smuggling rings destroyed will be replaced.  Taxpayer-funded 
interdiction efforts are tantamount to price supports for the drug 
traffickers the RCMP are up against.

The manner in which drug laws finance organized crime receives a great deal 
of press coverage, yet it is the threat the unregulated black market poses 
to children that necessitates marijuana regulation. Although marijuana is 
relatively harmless compared to legal alcohol, marijuana prohibition is 
deadly.  Illegal drug dealers do not I.D. for age, but they do push 
addictive drugs like heroin when given the chance.  As the most popular 
illicit drug, marijuana provides the contacts that introduce users to 
harder drugs. Current drug policy is effectively a gateway 
policy.  Sensible regulation is desperately needed to undermine the 
youth-oriented black market and restrict access to drugs.  As 
counterintuitive as it may seem, replacing marijuana prohibition with 
regulation would do a better job protecting children than the failed drug war.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer

The Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager