Letters to the Editor

Response to Crystal Sistoni’s thoughtful April 28 opinion editorial on marijuana

Regarding Crystal Sistoni’s thoughtful April 28 opinion editorial, if health outcomes 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 government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. By raiding voter-approved medical marijuana providers in California, the very same U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that claims illicit drug use funds terrorism is forcing cancer and AIDS patients into the hands of street dealers. Apparently marijuana prohibition is more important than protecting the country from terrorism. 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.

The following Virginia Law Review article offers a good overview of the cultural roots of marijuana legislation: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/vlr/vlrtoc.htm

Robert Sharpe is Policy Analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy in Washington DC

Get the marijuana monkey off of our backs

During my 18 years as a Michigan police officer I was dispatched to zero calls generated by the use of marijuana. Whatever the science says about what good or harm it does, it is a horrendous waste of good police time chasing adult users and sellers. We have crimes which have a real victim going unsolved because we spend so much time on pot. Child porn comes to mind. Give marijuana roughly the same regulations and restrictions as alcohol and tobacco. Get this monkey off our backs!

Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (retired) is an Educational Specialist for Law Enforcment Against Prohibition in Washington D.C.

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