Pubdate: Mon, 10 Feb 2003
Source: Crimson White, The (Edu, Univ of Alabama)
Copyright: 2003 The Crimson White.
Contact:  http://www.cw.ua.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2451
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n186/a06.html

MARIJUANA IS HELPFUL, NOT HARMFUL

Dan Whisenhunt's thoughtful Feb. 3 op-ed underscored the need for 
state-level medical marijuana distribution systems free from federal 
intrusion. Marijuana prohibition itself should be subjected to a 
cost-benefit analysis. Unfortunately, a review of marijuana legislation 
would open up a Pandora's box most politicians would just as soon avoid. 
America's marijuana laws are based on culture and xenophobia, not science.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration 
during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical 
Association. White Americans did not even begin to smoke marijuana until a 
soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness" 
propaganda.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been 
counterproductive at best. An estimated 38 percent of Americans have smoked 
pot. The reefer madness myths have long been discredited, forcing the drug 
war gravy train to spend millions of tax dollars on politicized research, 
trying to find harm in a relatively harmless plant.

The direct experience of millions of Americans contradicts the 
sensationalistic myths used to justify marijuana prohibition. Illegal drug 
use is the only public health issue wherein key stakeholders are not only 
ignored, but actively persecuted and incarcerated. In terms of medical 
marijuana, those stakeholders happen to be cancer and AIDS patients. 
California patients may be protected, but medical marijuana providers aren't.

By raiding the state's voter-approved suppliers, the very same Drug 
Enforcement Administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is 
forcing sick patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently, 
marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country from 
terrorism. Students interested in helping end the intergenerational culture 
war, otherwise known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for 
Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org.

Robert Sharpe

Program officer, Drug Policy Alliance
- ---
MAP posted-by: Alex