Pubdate: Sun, 08 Apr 2012
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Edwin E. Daniel
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n200/a12.html

END THE DRUG WARS BY DECRIMINALIZATION

Re: "Government should rethink drug laws, health officer says" and 
"Defence ministers turn guns on international drug cartels," March 28.

B.C.'S chief medical officer asks the Harper government to reconsider
its mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences, including
possession of marijuana.

The U.S. has filled its prisons with those sentenced for this offense
and for possession of small amounts of crack cocaine. Since the Ledain
report of the 1970s, thoughtful consideration has suggested that usage
of marijuana should not be a crime. It is now clear that its usage is
less harmful than smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. We now know
that there are naturally occurring substances which act on the same
brain receptors as marijuana, and there is growing evidence that the
active principles of marijuana have medicinal usages. It is clear that
the Harper criminalization plan is based on ideology, not evidence.

The irrationality of the war on drugs is clear from the other article.
It reports plans by U.S. and Canadian defence ministers to support the
war on drugs in Mexico. Making drugs illegal creates an illicit,
profitable market which supports ruthless criminal gangs. This war has
been going on without success for more than 60 years. It, too, is
based on ideology and not evidence. Other countries, notably Portugal
and Switzerland, have shown that treating addicts as medical rather
than criminal problems works better and does not lead to drug cartels
and murders.

When will evidence be applied and the drug wars ended?

Edwin E. Daniel Professor emeritus of pharmacology Victoria
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