Detroit News, 29 Jan 2013 – Regarding Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s Jan. 25 op-ed, 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, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive. Americans did not begin to smoke pot in large numbers until our federal government began funding reefer madness propaganda.
posted on January 31, 2013 by
