Pubdate: Wed, 06 Mar 2013
Source: Times-Herald, The (Vallejo, CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Times-Herald
Contact:  http://www.timesheraldonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/993
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n100/a01.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

TIDE TURNING ON MARIJUANA?

Regarding Michael McCoy's March 2 letter, 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 drug cartels, 
prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and 
demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. As long as 
cartels control marijuana distribution, consumers will be exposed to 
illegal cocaine, meth and heroin. By taxing and regulating legal 
marijuana, Colorado and Washington state will effectively close the 
gateway to hard drugs.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is 
a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of 
marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. 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. Not just 
in Colorado and Washington but across the nation, it's time to stop 
the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom