Pubdate: Wed, 23 Jan 2013
Source: Herald Times Reporter (Manitowoc, WI)
Copyright: 2013 Herald Times Reporter
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Bi8dueb3
Website: http://www.htrnews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1293
Author: Dan Linn
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n029/a01.html

MARIJUANA ANOTHER FAILED GOVERNMENT PROHIBITION

Your (Jan. 15) editorial against legalizing cannabis (marijuana) was 
very disappointing because it missed an opportunity to advocate for 
ending one of the most wasteful government endeavors in modern 
history. Clearly the Herald Times Reporter would rather the taxpayers 
pick up the tab for another failed prohibition than allow adults in a 
free country to grow and consume a plant.

I did not expect your paper to be in favor of big government in our 
personal lives and gardens, monitoring our activities to save us from 
Mother Nature. Colorado and Washington are leading the way by taxing 
and regulating the adult cannabis market. More states are likely to 
follow suit and end another prohibition and allow adults to buy, 
grow, smoke and eat this plant. The fact that we have made a plant 
illegal for over 75 years is beyond logic, goes against the bible and 
has imprisoned and disenfranchised more people than Jim Crow laws.

The end of alcohol prohibition helped bring our country out of the 
Great Depression and ending cannabis prohibition would likely do 
similar things for our current economic recession. Sales tax revenue 
plus retail and manufacturing license fees combined with money saved 
by not investigating, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating 
cannabis consumers all yield positive results for troubled state budgets.

The ones who lose out on legalized cannabis are the gangs, drug 
testing industry, prison guards and law enforcement agencies that get 
funding through civil asset forfeiture. Adults should also have the 
option of consuming cannabis instead of alcohol. Why are we repeating 
another failed prohibition? The will of the people has been heard in 
Colorado and Washington and sanity is finally returning to policies 
around the cannabis plant.

Dan Linn

Sycamore, Ill.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom