Pubdate: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2008 The Dallas Morning News, Inc. Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n709/a02.html Author: Paul Armentano WRITER'S JOB DEPENDS ON POT LAWS Re: "Legalizing pot doesn't make us safer -- We are winning the fight against drug use and abuse, says James Capra," Tuesday Viewponts. Mr. Capra's opposition to liberalizing U.S. marijuana policies is understandable. After all, his job security depends on it. Since the early 1990s, police have arrested more than 10 million Americans for marijuana offenses. Nearly 90 percent of these arrests are for minor marijuana offenses, not sales or cultivation. In Texas, more than 95 percent of all pot arrests are for simple possession. Yet, according to a World Health Organization report released earlier this month, more than 42 percent of Americans have experimented with pot -- a percentage that is higher than anywhere else in the world. The punitive anti-drug policies endorsed by Mr. Capra have had no discernable impact on Americans' drug use. By contrast, they have provided Mr. Capra and his colleagues' cradle-to-grave employment at taxpayers' expense. Paul Armentano, deputy director National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake