Letter: Writer's Job Depends on Marijuana Laws
Paul Armentano
July 27, 2008
Dallas Morning News
Re: "Legalizing pot doesn't make us safer — We are winning the fight against drug use and abuse, says James Capra," Tuesday Viewponts.
Mr. Capra's opposition to liberalizing U.S. marijuana policies is understandable. After all, his job security depends on it.
Since the early 1990s, police have arrested more than 10 million Americans for marijuana offenses. Nearly 90 percent of these arrests are for minor marijuana offenses, not sales or cultivation. In Texas, more than 95 percent of all pot arrests are for simple possession.
Yet, according to a World Health Organization report released earlier this month, more than 42 percent of Americans have experimented with pot — a percentage that is higher than anywhere else in the world.
The punitive anti-drug policies endorsed by Mr. Capra have had no discernable impact on Americans' drug use. By contrast, they have provided Mr. Capra and his colleagues' cradle-to-grave employment at taxpayers' expense. | 
