Pubdate: Sat, 19 Jun 2010
Source: Lansing State Journal (MI)
Copyright: 2010 Lansing State Journal
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/uc45fODd
Website: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/232
Author: A.B. Dalimonte

STATE CAN'T WIN DRUG WAR, SO WHY NOT REGULATE POT?

I support the intent of the medical marijuana law, but  not its 
method. The law compares to a Band-Aid over a  gaping hole. The 
problem rests in the way the medical  marijuana law is structured. 
More problems are created  than solved.

In fact, none of our drug laws are working. They never  will work.

The country spends billions to suppress the sale of  illegal drugs. 
Billions are spent on law enforcement.  We fight the growth of poppy 
seeds in Afghanistan and  elsewhere. We have filled our prisons with 
users and  small-time dealers. Yet the big-time suppliers are  seldom 
in jail and are making millions, making it worth  the risk.

In the mean time, the violence and bloodletting of drug  wars are 
spilling over our borders from Mexico. All of  this is a waste on a 
war that cannot be won. As long as  a profit is being made from the 
illegal sale of drugs,  it will continue.

We have not learned from history. I draw your attention  to the days 
of Prohibition when the sale of alcohol  became illegal. It became 
illegal, but the faucet was  never turned off. It became a hugely 
profitable  industry for gangsters. Al Capone and others like him 
made alcohol available and built empires on the money  made from the 
illegal alcohol brought across the  Detroit River, the Sault Ste. 
Marie River and other  ports of entry around the country.

By the time the country awakened to the futility of a  winless war, 
the empires of the crooks had grown so  powerful that they were able 
to expand into gambling,  prostitution and illegal drugs.

Today, the state of Michigan controls the sale of  alcohol through 
its outlets. Bars, liquor stores, etc.  buy the liquor needed from 
the state and sell it to the  public. In reality, the taxpayers are 
receiving the  benefit of money going into state coffers instead of 
the money going to illegal suppliers.

Simply, I suggest this model for your consideration. A  person in 
need of medical marijuana would see a  physician to obtain a 
prescription for medical  marijuana or a derivative. The state would 
obtain the drug from a pharmaceutical manufacturer and 
would  wholesale the drug to licensed pharmacists. The patient  could 
obtain it cleanly and efficiently from his or her  pharmacist. The 
illegal supplier would be eliminated.  The amount of dosage and the 
price would be controlled in the manner that liquor sales are controlled.

I am not in favor of the use of drugs - but I am in  favor of 
controlling their sale.

A.B. Dalimonte Grand Ledge
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