Pubdate: Thu, 06 Oct 2005
Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat (AZ Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Arizona Daily Wildcat
Contact:  http://wildcat.arizona.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/725
Author: Ian Deady
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1571/a03.html

MARIJUANA NOT REALLY THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE IN LATIN AMERICA

I think David Schultz gives the low-grade Latin American marijuana
that enters this country far too much credit for funding the wars in
South America ("Blame drug suppliers, not users"). It is clearly the
ever-popular and extremely expensive cocaine habit that this country
has that openly fuels the ongoing terrorism in Colombia, Panama and so
forth.

I happen to know a thing or two about where my marijuana comes from,
and it either comes from California, Washington, Oregon or Canada. We
leave the low-grade Mexican dirt marijuana to the East Coast. Although
that low-grade Latin American marijuana is readily available, it goes
untouched because an undeniable lack of quality in the product.

The war on drugs is a complete joke. I would like you to refute the
fact (in any possible way you can) that for every drug offender who is
caught and prosecuted in this country that there are at least 10 who
will not be. I have seen this firsthand. Getting away from a drug
conviction can be as easy as talking your way out of a parking ticket.

Your claim that legalizing marijuana in this country would perpetuate
violence in South America shows a complete lack of understanding on
your part of the dynamics of growing quality marijuana domestically on
a commercial level. Being able to legally grow high-grade marijuana in
this country through the use of modern cultivation methods would turn
$15 per gram into a net cost of less than $5 per gram.

I know what people who typically smoke weed are like: non violent,
open-minded people looking to liberate themselves from the consumption
based day-to-day grind of living in a materialistic capitalist
society. I am an aerospace engineering major and find many peers who
share my feelings about marijuana.

As soon as the government realizes that it cannot legislate personal
taste, (i.e. the preference of alcohol to marijuana), the sooner it
will move toward promoting a society in which people's personal
choices are rewarded with tolerance and open-mindedness rather than
jail time.

Ian Deady

Corona, Calif.
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