Spring Break
Letter to the Editor: Banning marijuana is foolish
Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Ed-Op
- Page 1 of 1
Editor:
Drexel NORML president Dan Cardillo is to be commended for raising awareness of marijuana prohibition's collateral damage. 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 migration 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.
Robert Sharpe, MPA
Policy Analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Drexel NORML president Dan Cardillo is to be commended for raising awareness of marijuana prohibition's collateral damage. 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 migration 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.
Robert Sharpe, MPA
Policy Analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
joey
posted 3/02/07 @ 12:35 PM EST
you dumb hippies would still be driving around smoking it and causing even more deadly accidents if it were legal
Dan Cardillo
Dan Cardillo
posted 3/02/07 @ 8:22 PM EST
(I allowed 20 minutes for my first comment to be posted, so I'll try this one more time, and perhaps the fact that I'm now a registered member will bypass the necessity to approve my comments. (Continued…)
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