Courts misused

Dear Editor,

For non-violent offenders with chronic substance abuse problems, drug treatment is a cost-effective alternative to incarceration.

Unfortunately, drug courts are being misused for political purposes. Record numbers of citizens arrested for marijuana possession have been forced into treatment by the criminal justice system. The resulting distortion of treatment statistics is used by shameless drug warriors to claim that marijuana is "addictive."

Zero tolerance drug laws do not distinguish between occasional use and chronic abuse.

The coercion of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis into taxpayer-funded treatment centers says a lot about government priorities, but absolutely nothing about the relative harms of marijuana.

For an objective take on marijuana, look to Canada. After months of research, the Canadian Senate concluded in 2002 that marijuana is relatively harmless, marijuana prohibition contributes to organized crime, and law enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use.

In the words of Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue."

Sincerely,

Robert Sharpe,

MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

www.csdp.org

Washington, DC