Dear Editor:
Re: Legalization fight still on after smoke clears, The Record, April 26.
Now that neighbouring Washington and Colorado states have legalized marijuana, Ottawa can no longer claim Canada must uphold marijuana prohibition in order to maintain good U.S. relations.
In 2002, the Canadian Senate's special committee on illegal drugs concluded marijuana is relatively benign, prohibition contributes to organized crime and law enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use. Consider the experience of the United States, current world leader in per capita incarceration.
Despite decades of zero tolerance, the U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The only winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.
Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy
