Thanks to NORML Australia for bringing this article to my attention I have said this before in my blog as long as the government supports prohibition the support drug cartels and drug dealers.
PROSECUTING the marijuana trade makes no financial sense in a market with an almost infinite supply, a leading US drugs campaigner says.
A better path is to regulate the drugs and impose taxes on their supply, given drugs are more easily available in larger quantities and at cheaper prices, says Ethan Nadelmann, director of New York-based Drug Policy Alliance.
In Australia to discuss drug policy, Mr Nadelmann told the National Press Club yesterday support was building for decriminalisation of marijuana use in the US, with approval from 44 per cent of the population, a marked hike from
36 per cent five years ago.
Mr Nadelmann said high school students in the US claimed it was easier to get their hands on marijuana than alcohol, and spending a fortune on policing and jailing those in the trade was wasting money.
Sydney-based drug reform campaigner Alex Wodak agreed that prohibition of drugs was not working, and there had been a rise in violence associated with the drugs underworld that could be curtailed by legalising the industry.
Mr Wodak said cannabis was the only drug that could be controlled in Australia by Mr Nadelmann's regulate and tax model.
Opponents of Mr Nadelmann's model note the increasing potency of cannabis and marijuana compared with decades ago and refute the notion it is comparatively harmless.
Posts
