Regarding Samuel Blackstone’s March 23rd column, 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 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 18 and older. 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 SchoolsNotPrisons.com.

Robert Sharpe
Policy Analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy