Pubdate: Thu, 03 Nov 2005
Source: GW Hatchet (George Washington U, DC Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The GW Hatchet
Contact:  http://www.gwhatchet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/757
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1681/a01.html

KEEP IT UP NORML

The GW chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of 
Marijuana Laws is to be commended for taking on GW's zero-tolerance 
stance against marijuana. It would appear that President Trachtenberg 
has been deluded by the White House Office of National Drug Policy's 
"reefer madness" revisited campaign. The marijuana plant has not 
changed since Trachtenberg authored an article in 1972 arguing for 
decriminalization. What has changed is the federal government's 
willingness to lie and deceive to keep the drug war gravy train chugging along.

If health outcomes determined drug laws, instead of cultural norms, 
marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been 
shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive 
properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail 
cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as 
deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to 
Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the 
American Medical Association.

Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been 
counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to 
smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched government bureaucracy began 
funding "reefer madness" propaganda. By raiding voter-approved 
medical marijuana providers in California, the very same Bush 
administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is 
forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers.

Apparently, marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting 
the country from terrorism.

- -Robert Sharpe, alumnus and policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman