Pubdate: Tue, 24 Sep 2002
Source: Daily News, The (CN NS)
Copyright: 2002 The Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/halifax/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/179
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1785/a08.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?218 (Canadian Senate Committee on 
Illegal Drugs)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MOORE RIGHT ON SCRAPPING POT LAWS

To the editor:

Kudos to Charles Moore for his excellent column on the Canadian Senate's 
common-sense alternative to marijuana prohibition (Pot Should Be Legal, The 
Daily News, Sept. 20). Unlike some of the more hysterical critics of the 
Senate's groundbreaking recommendations, Moore obviously took the time to 
read the report. After months of research, the special committee on illegal 
drugs concluded that marijuana is relatively benign; marijuana prohibition 
contributes to organized crime; and law-enforcement efforts have little 
impact on patterns of use. Telling examples of the drug war's failure can 
be found very close to home.

The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study reports that 
lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the U.S. than in any European 
country. Yet the U.S. is one of the few western countries that wastes 
resources punishing citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. Unlike 
alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor 
does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term health 
effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared with the long-term 
effects of criminal records.

Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to misguided 
reactionaries intent on legislating their version of morality. In 
subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors, government is inadvertently 
subsidizing organized crime.

The drug war's distortion of the immutable laws of supply and demand make 
an easily grown weed literally worth its weight in gold. The only clear 
winners in the war on some drugs are drug cartels and shameless 
tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers on confusing drug 
prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.

The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug use 
can be found at:

www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager