Dear Editor,
If health consequences determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.
The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best.
White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults.
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. Students who want to help end the intergenerational-culture-war, otherwise known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.SchoolsNotPrisons.com.
Other suggested Web sites to learn the facts about marijuana use include:
United Nations drug stats: www.unodc.org/
Comparative analysis of U.S. vs. Dutch rates of drug use: www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm
The Virginia Law Review’s overview of the cultural roots of marijuana legislation: www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm
Here are some facts concerning the situation in Holland. –Please save a copy and use it as a reference when debating prohibitionists who claim the exact opposite concerning reality as presented here below: Cannabis-coffee-shops are not only restricted to the Capital of Holland, Amsterdam. They can be found in more than 50 cities and towns across the country. At present, only the retail sale of five grams is tolerated, so production remains criminalized. The mayors of a majority of the cities with coffeeshops have long urged the national government to also decriminalize the supply side. A poll taken earlier this… Read more »
Yeah, let’s keep pot illegal. The cartels and the cops like the little game they’re playing. Just think of the money the cartels will be losing. In the 60’s pot was $10 an ounce. Now an ounce of the ‘good stuff’ can fetch more than $400 dollars! Just try to name ONE legal thing you can buy to consume, that costs hundreds of dollars an ounce. If ketchup was illegal, it would sell for A LOT more than it does now in the supermarket. If we want to make ALL harmful substances illegal to protect us, then where do we… Read more »
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