Contrary to John Walters's allegations ("The Myth of 'Harmless' Marijuana," op-ed, May 1), marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. About 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose.

U.S. government-sponsored population studies conducted in Jamaica, Greece and Costa Rica found no significant cognitive differences between long-term marijuana smokers and nonsmokers. Similarly, a 1999 study of 1,300 volunteers published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reported "no significant differences in cognitive decline between heavy users, light users, and nonusers of cannabis" over a 15-year period. Most recently, a meta-analysis of neuropsychological studies of long-term marijuana smokers by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse reaffirmed this conclusion.

Perhaps the most offensive aspersions are those Walters casts toward the medical use of marijuana by the seriously ill. The drug czar cynically asks, "Is the American health care system . . . really being hobbled by a lack of smoked medicines?" He'd be better off asking our nation's doctors.

According to a 2001 national survey of U.S. physicians conducted for the American Society of Addiction Medicine, nearly half of all doctors with opinions support legalizing marijuana as a medicine. Moreover, no fewer than 80 state and national health care organizations -- including the American Public Health Association and the New England Journal of Medicine -- support immediate, legal patient access to medical cannabis.

Walters is correct in suggesting that marijuana, like other drugs, is not for kids. We permit adults to do many activities that we forbid children to do, such as drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. But we do not condone arresting adults who responsibly engage in these activities in order to dissuade our children from doing so. Nor can we justify arresting adult marijuana smokers at the pace of some 734,000 per year on the grounds of "sending a message to children."

More than 76 million Americans, roughly one-third of the adult population, have smoked marijuana, and 18 million to 20 million admit having done so in the past year. Most of these people are upstanding, hardworking and productive citizens. They do not deserve to be treated like criminals.

Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself constitutes a legitimate danger to public safety. Pot prohibition is a failed public policy that wastes billions of dollars of law enforcement resources and that destroys the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens each year. That's why 61 percent of Americans oppose arresting and jailing marijuana smokers. Indeed, if there exists any true "myth" regarding marijuana, it is that pot is more damaging to society than pot prohibition.

Source: Washington Post (DC)
Author: Keith Stroup and Paul Armentano
Published: Saturday, May 4, 2002; Page A19
Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company
Contact: letterstoed@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/