San Bernardino Sun, 24 May 2013 – Regarding John Weeks’ May 12 column, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal and there would be no medical marijuana debate. 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, 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. Americans did not begin to smoke pot in significant numbers until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Marijuana prohibition has failed as a deterrent. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. 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 tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.
posted on May 26, 2013 by
