Pubdate: Tue, 28 Feb 2012
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/letters/sendletter.html
Website: http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Jon Taylor
Page: 12A

LEGALIZATION HAS ITS FLAWS

Re: "These are not criminals" and "Why celebrate arrests?" Thursday Letters.

If people have been smoking pot in college for 40
years, maybe that is part of the reason for the
decline in education. I imagine the teachers'
lounge nowadays is a lot different than when I
went to school. The cultural revolution has
indeed changed the nation's way of thinking.
Quite a bit to the good =AD and some undoubtedly questionable.

Do we need another legal intoxicant out on the
road with alcohol and the epidemic of
prescription drugs to cloud judgment? And how can
we avoid supporting murderous cartels that import
the "innocent" weed? There is no way to regulate
who grows, ships, sells, supplies or smokes the product.

Marijuana is a gateway drug. People who never
would have tried drugs get started in this way.
Why tempt fate? Please, can we look down the road
instead of turning to instant gratification?

And even if it was a slow news day, The Dallas
Morning News was obligated to report current events.

Jon Taylor, Fairview
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart