Letter: Pot Poses No Threat
Robert Sharpe
August 4, 2009
San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Re: "Hypocrisy grows like a weed" (Froma Harrop's Thursday column):
If health 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 and ineffective as deterrents.
Marijuana prohibition has also failed miserably as a deterrent. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults over 18. The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who have built careers confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. | 
