Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jan 2014
Source: Macon Telegraph (GA)
Copyright: 2014 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.macontelegraph.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n034/a05.html

LEGALIZE POT

Regarding Erick Erickson's Jan. 10 column, the days when our federal 
government can get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous 
collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to 
an 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 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. 
Not just in Colorado and Washington state but throughout the nation, 
it's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

- -- Robert Sharpe

Common Sense for Drug Policy

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