Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n368/a06.html MIDDLE GROUND IN DRUG CONTROL Re: It's Time To End The War On Drugs, Jonathan Kay, March 31. There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. And providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use. Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as marijuana distribution is controlled by organized crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to come into contact with sellers of addictive drugs like cocaine. Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes no sense to waste tax dollars on failed policies that finance organized crime and facilitate hard drug use. Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin