Recently Gil Kerlikowske responded to We the People petitions calling for the reform of cannabis laws. He argued against an end to prohibition, citing the ideas that cannabis caused addiction, respiratory disease, drug treatment admissions, visits to emergency rooms, and impaired brain development in young people. While some of these are scientifically contested (some by government funded studies [1]), they are all associated with tobacco and alcohol.
Even if we accept the scientifically dubious ideas that cannabis is physically addictive and causes permanent brain damage, it is still less harmful (both to the user and society) than alcohol or tobacco. [2]
We ask that the legal differences between these substances are justified or removed.