Pubdate: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 Source: East Bay Express (CA) Copyright: 2009 East Bay Express Contact: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/SendLetter Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131 Author: Robert Sharpe BETTER THAN ALCOHOL 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. Like any drug, 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 immigration 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 federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably. The US has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults over 18. The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers confusing drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The following Virginia Law Review article provides a good overview of the cultural roots of marijuana legislation: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm United Nations drug stats: http://www.unodc.org/ July 2008 World Health Organization survey study: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi.1371/journal.pmed.0050141&ct=1&SESSIDo9045006b9979c06919d5e9fb373b0b A comparative analysis of US vs. European rates of drug use can be found at: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf. MTF is funded with US government grants Comparative analysis of US vs. Dutch rates of drug use: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom