Pubdate: Thu, 10 Apr 2014
Source: Missoula Independent (MT)
Copyright: 2014 Missoula Independent
Contact: http://posting.bigskypress.com/missoula/SubmitaLetter/Page
Website: http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1534
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n299/a01.html

A FAILURE

Christi Turner's April 3 column was right on target (see "Nip it in the 
bud"). If marijuana were fully legal there would be no backcountry grows 
on public land. Legitimate farmers would produce it by the ton at a 
fraction of the current cost. There is a reason you don't see drug 
cartels sneaking into national forests to cultivate tomatoes and 
cucumbers. They cannot compete with a legal market.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize drug cartels, 
prohibition is a 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 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 state, but throughout the nation, it's time to 
stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt