Pubdate: Thu, 26 Dec 2013
Source: Expositor, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Brantford Expositor
Contact: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/letters
Website: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1130
Author: Robert Sharpe
Page: A10
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n611/a06.html

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA ALREADY

Regarding Greg Van Moorsel's Dec. 20 column:

The Tories need to catch up with the 21st Century. The days when
politicians can get away with confusing the drug war's 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.

Consider the experience of the former land of the free and current
record holder in citizens incarcerated. The United States has double
the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands where marijuana is legal.

The criminalization of people 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 Arlington, Virginia
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MAP posted-by: Matt