Pubdate: Sat, 20 Apr 2013
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Authors: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n167/a07.html

WAR ON MARIJUANA

Regarding Carlton Turner and Herbert Goldstein's April 18 op-ed,
"Research doesn't support marijuana prohibition:"

Criminal records are inappropriate as health interventions and
ineffective as deterrents. 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 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. It's time to stop the
pointless arrests and tax legal marijuana instead.

Robert Sharpe, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, DC
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MAP posted-by: Matt