Pubdate: Thu, 05 May 2011
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2011 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n272/a03.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

GROW LOCAL

Regarding your April 28 article on Illinois' restrictive medical 
marijuana bill, it's true that marijuana is readily available in 
California to anyone with a doctor's recommendation. Locally grown 
medical marijuana generates tax revenue and, more important, takes 
marijuana distribution out of the hands of organized crime. Illinois 
legislators apparently prefer that Mexican drug cartels control 
marijuana distribution.

The number-one product of Mexican drug cartels is marijuana. An 
estimated 35,000 Mexicans have died in prohibition-related violence 
over the past few years. As long as cartels control distribution, 
marijuana consumers will be exposed to methamphetamine, cocaine and 
heroin. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana 
prohibition is deadly.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake