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Letter to Editor: Zero tolerance drug laws do not distinguish between occasional use and chronic abuse
By Hempology | July 14, 2007
Langley Times, BC
13 Jul 2007
DON’T FOLLOW THE AMERICAN APPROACH
Editor: Please consider publishing the following letter in response to Tom Fletcher’s column ( The Times, July 4 ).
For non-violent offenders with chronic substance abuse problems, community courts are a cost-effective alternative to incarceration. I just hope Canada’s community courts aren’t misused for political purposes the way they are here in the United States.
Record numbers of U.S. citizens arrested for marijuana possession have been forced into treatment by the criminal justice system. The resulting distortion of treatment statistics is used by U.S. Drug Czar John Walters to make the 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 government treatment centres says a lot about U.S. government priorities, but absolutely nothing about the relative harm of marijuana.
Community courts in the U.S. have unfortunately become the latest tool of culture warriors intent on enforcing their version of morality. Canada should Just Say No to the American Inquisition.
The following U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report verifies my claims regarding government coercion: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k2/MJtx/MJtx.htm and http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k6/TXtrends/TXtrends.pdf
ROBERT SHARPE, policy analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Washington, DC
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