Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 Source: Kearney Hub, The (NE) Copyright: 2014 Kearney Hub Publishing Company Contact: http://hub.kearneyhub.com/forms/letter_editor.htm Website: http://www.kearneyhub.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3820 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n057/a04.html Author: Robert Sharpe DRUG WAR REWARDS CARTELS Editor's Note The author is a policy analyst with Common Sense for Drug Policy in Washington, D.C. Posted: Thursday, January 23, 2014 12:45 pm Regarding Ronald Fraser's Jan. 16 op-ed about the trend toward legalizing marijuana, 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. 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 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, Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom