Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jan 2014
Source: Grand Forks Herald (ND)
Copyright: 2014 Robert Sharpe
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/PmdVQo7l
Website: http://www.grandforksherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/513
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n044/a07.html

POT PROHIBITION DOES NOT DECREASE USE

LANCASTER, Pa. - Regarding Ronald Fraser's column, the days when
politicians can get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous
collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an
end ("With time, America's perception of pot changes," Page A4, Jan.
13).

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.

But if the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a
catastrophic failure. The United States has almost 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

Sharpe is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, a
nonprofit dedicated to drug-policy reform.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D