Pubdate: Sun, 28 Oct 2012
Source: Fort Collins Coloradoan (CO)
Copyright: 2012 The Fort Collins Coloradoan
Contact: http://www.coloradoan.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.coloradoan.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1580
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n535/a02.html

MARIJUANA USE COULD TAKE PATH OF TOBACCO IN U.S. IF LEGAL

In her Oct. 22 op-ed, Dawn Nannini makes the common mistake of 
assuming that marijuana prohibition deters use. The United States has 
double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana 
is legally available to adults at retail "coffee shops." Spain 
legalized personal use marijuana cultivation and has lower rates of 
use than the U.S. Neighboring Portugal decriminalized all drugs and 
still has lower rates of use than the U.S. If anything, marijuana 
prohibition increases use by creating forbidden fruit appeal.

Thanks to honest public education, legal tobacco use has declined 
considerably, without any need to criminalize smokers or imprison 
tobacco farmers. This drop in the use of one of the most addictive 
drugs available occurred despite widespread availability of tobacco. 
The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and 
shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers confusing 
the drug war's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe,

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