Pubdate: Sun, 15 Sep 2013
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2013 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n459/a04.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

EASED POLICY ON MARIJUANA IS LONG OVERDUE

REGARDING TOM Keane's Sept. 8 op-ed column "The drug divide": The 
Obama administration's green light for state-level marijuana 
regulation is long overdue. The days when our federal government can 
get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage 
with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end.

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 is to deter use, marijuana 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 Washington and Colorado but throughout the nation, it's 
time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Arlington, Va.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom