Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jan 2013
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n032/a05.html

THE FAILURE OF PROHIBITION

Re "Taking the high road" (Cover story, by David Downs, Jan.
17):

The people of Colorado and Washington state are way ahead of the
politicians in Washington, D.C. If the goal of marijuana prohibition
is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success.
The drug war distorts supply-and-demand dynamics so that big money
grows on little trees.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter marijuana use,
prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double
the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available.

The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has
no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed
cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public-health campaign.
It's time to stop the arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, MPA Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Matt