Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI) Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser Contact: http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n320/a02.html NOTHING NEW ABOUT LEGAL MARIJUANA Rep. Marcus Oshiro is apparently content to recycle prohibitionist talking points without doing any background research ("For-profit marijuana will be dangerous," Star-Advertiser, Insight, June 14). Legal marijuana is not a "new idea in the world." Marijuana has been safely used by humans for millennia. Marijuana prohibition is the new idea. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Prior to the federal Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (sic), marijuana use was limited to border migrant communities and black jazz musicians in New Orleans. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages in dark-skinned minorities have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not start smoking marijuana until after our federal government began funding reefer madness propaganda. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. Robert Sharpe Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom