Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 2015
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n167/a02.html

END FEDERAL POT PROHIBITION

Re: "Fed should respect state laws on medical marijuana" [Opinion, 
March 22]: Not only should our federal government respect state laws 
on medical marijuana, but marijuana prohibition as a federal policy 
needs to 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 
lifetime rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands where marijuana has 
been legally available for decades. 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. In California and across the 
nation, it's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal 
marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Arlington, Va.

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom