Pubdate: Sun, 10 Mar 2013
Source: Times-News, The (Twin Falls, ID)
Copyright: 2013 Lee Publications, Inc.
Contact: http://magicvalley.com/app/contact/
Website: http://www.magicvalley.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/595
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n102/a06.html

TIME TO LEGALIZE, TAX MARIJUANA

Thank you for publishing Paul Armentano's March 3 guest column.

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. As long 
as cartels control marijuana distribution, consumers will be exposed 
to illegal cocaine, meth and heroin. By taxing and regulating legal 
marijuana, Colorado and Washington State will effectively close the 
gateway to hard drugs.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is 
a catastrophic failure. The United States has 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.

It's time to stop the arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

ROBERT SHARPE

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom