Pubdate: Sun, 25 Mar 2012
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2012 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/general/30627794.html
Website: http://www.jsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Pubdate: 25 mar 12
Author: Colleen Kronquist
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n686/a10.html

TIME TO END DRUG WAR

While reading the anti-marijuana legalization letter by Capt. Charles 
Wood, I came to a sentence that almost made me spit out my coffee in 
amazement ("Marijuana isn't safe," March 19). He wrote that marijuana 
promotes violence, and as his evidence, he mentioned "the headless 
bodies piling up in Mexico."

Yes, there is a lot of drug violence in Mexico, as there was a lot of 
violence because of Prohibition in the 1920s. We have been ignoring 
the lessons of Prohibition for the past 75 or so years. The reason 
there is so much violence associated with marijuana is not because of 
the drug itself; it is the prohibitions.

Taking marijuana does not make one violent; if anything, it makes one 
less violent. Marijuana users don't get into intoxicated fights. Does 
the captain know how many cases of alcohol-fueled violence per year 
there is in Waukesha vs. marijuana-fueled violence?

Neither drug, of course, should be illegal. The fact is, the drug war 
is an industry. It makes many people very wealthy. It allows police 
departments to seize your property even if you yourself aren't 
charged with a crime. Innocent people are killed in the dead of night 
in SWAT raids on wrong houses.

Indeed, almost all deaths associated from marijuana have nothing to 
do with the drug itself, but raids such as this and the violence 
fueled by it being illegal.

It's time to end this stupid war.

Colleen Kronquist

Milwaukee
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom