Pubdate: Sat, 27 Sep 2014
Source: Tampa Bay Times (FL)
Copyright: 2014 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.tampabay.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author: William Gilbert
Page: A13

DRUG WAR HAS FAILED

For medical use, marijuana has far fewer side effects than
pharmaceuticals. I do not encourage marijuana use. Nor do I encourage
alcohol use.

Pharmaceutical drugs kill 38,000 per year. Tobacco kills 480,000 per
year. Diabetes kills 69,000 per year. Alcohol kills 88,000 per year
and contributes to domestic violence. Marijuana kills zero per year,
and in Colorado domestic violence was reduced by 30 percent. One woman
died in Colorado from heart complications while high.

Which are the gateway drugs? Marijuana users almost always start with
beer and cigarettes.

Is it better to put someone in jail and give them a criminal record,
so that they have problems for the rest of their lives - not getting
student loans, not getting good jobs, not getting certain housing,
business loans or assistance?

The failed drug war has cost $3 trillion over 43 years; shouldn't this
money support mental health studies rather than the prison system?

William Gilbert, WeekiWachee
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MAP posted-by: Matt