Pubdate: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 Source: Times-News, The (ID) Copyright: 2001 Magic Valley Newspapers Contact: P.O. Box 548, Twin Falls, ID 83303 Fax: (208) 734-553 Feedback: http://www.magicvalley.com/submit.html Website: http://www.magicvalley.com/ Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) LEGALIZE RELATIVELY HARMLESS DRUG Tim Williams is another drug war casualty, killed over $30 worth of marijuana by Jerome County sheriff's officers during a botched drug raid. We don't shoot alcoholics in this country, yet some people would have us believe that possession of a relatively harmless drug like marijuana, which has never been shown to cause an overdose death, justifies the use of deadly force. Marijuana prohibition is an integral part of the larger drug war. In 1999, 46 percent of the 1,532,200 total arrests nationwide for drug violations were for marijuana, 620,541 for possession alone. Marijuana laws consume enormous resources while failing miserably at preventing use. Illegal drug dealers don't identify for age, making it easier for teen-agers to buy illegal pot than beer. There are cost-effective alternatives to the current approach. The Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation. Dutch rates of drug use are significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category. Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing age controls for marijuana has proven more effective than zero tolerance. As the most popular illicit drug in America, marijuana provides the black market contacts that introduce users to hard drugs like meth. This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes no sense to perpetuate policies that finance organized crime, facilitate the use of hard drugs and result in the untimely death of otherwise law-abiding Americans who smoke pot. How many more citizens will be sacrificed at the altar of the failed drug. ROBERT SHARPE Washington, D.C. (Editor's note: Robert Sharpe is a program officer with the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation.) - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager