[420 Girl]

Re. High school students have right to privacy, May 7 editorial

It would be a mistake to assume that the police state approach to public health problems works. Here in the United States, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties, while failing miserably at preventing drug use.

Marijuana use is higher in the U.S. than any European country, yet America is one of the few western countries that punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis.

Thanks to the war on some drugs, Canada's southern neighbor now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not a public health campaign. Criminal records are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. Can Canada afford to emulate the harm maximization approach of the former land of the free and current record holder in citizens incarcerated?

The results of a comparative study of European and U.S. rates of drug use can be found at: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/espad_pr.pdf

United Nations stats: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC

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