Pubdate: Tue, 11 Mar 2014
Source: Star Democrat (Easton, MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Star Democrat
Contact:  http://www.stardem.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1233
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n214/a05.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

WAR ON MARIJUANA IS DOOMED

Dr. Russell Schilling called marijuana a gateway drug in his March 2 
op-ed. The real gateway is marijuana prohibition. As long as 
marijuana remains illegal and distributed by drug cartels, consumers 
will come into contact with sellers of meth, cocaine and heroin. 
Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

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 Colorado and Washington 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 Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom