Regarding the Jan. 25 Abbotsford News article on the "Operation Norfolk"
cross-border probe that yielded numerous arrests ('Abbotsford link to
'Norfolk' bust,'). Government interdiction efforts only make marijuana
trafficking more profitable. Thanks to the drug war's distortion of basic
supply and demand dynamics, an easily grown weed is literally worth its
weight in gold in cities in the U.S. With money practically growing on
trees, any smuggling rings destroyed will be replaced. Taxpayer-funded
interdiction efforts are tantamount to price supports for the drug
traffickers the RCMP are up against.

The manner in which drug laws finance organized crime receives a great deal
of press coverage, yet it is the threat the unregulated black market poses
to children that necessitates marijuana regulation. Although marijuana is
relatively harmless compared to legal alcohol, marijuana prohibition is
deadly. Illegal drug dealers do not I.D. for age, but they do push
addictive drugs like heroin when given the chance. As the most popular
illicit drug, marijuana provides the contacts that introduce users to
harder drugs. Current drug policy is effectively a gateway
policy. Sensible regulation is desperately needed to undermine the
youth-oriented black market and restrict access to drugs. As
counterintuitive as it may seem, replacing marijuana prohibition with
regulation would do a better job protecting children than the failed drug war.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer

The Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation Washington, D.C.