Pubdate: Sun, 31 Mar 2013
Source: State Journal-Register (IL)
Copyright: 2013 The State Journal-Register
Contact: http://service.sj-r.com/forms/letters.asp
Website: http://www.sj-r.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/425
Author: Dan Linn
Note: The writer is executive director of Illinois NORML
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n134/a12.html
Cited: http://illinoisnorml.org/

APPLAUDS EDITORIAL STANCE ON CANNABIS

Your editorial about ending cannabis prohibition was outstanding. Now
we need our politicians to have the courage to finally do something to
change these laws. Many lawmakers understand the need for change but
are unwilling to vote for any type of sanity on this issue for fear of
being labeled soft on crime or pro-drugs.

Being smart on crime and pro-regulation are better ways to address
substances we want to keep out of the hands of children, because drug
dealers don't ask for IDs.

The legal jobs that have been propped up by this prohibition include
drug-testing companies, prisons, law enforcement agencies that get
funding from asset seizures, alcohol and pharmaceutical industries. On
the other side there is an illegal market providing work for growers,
processors, smugglers and distributors that all make money, especially
from the inflated price of the product due to the illegality of the
market.

If cannabis were to once again be legal some of these jobs might be
lost, but by taking a currently illegal market and bringing it out in
the open we can avoid the ills of another failed prohibition.

An additional benefit of legalizing cannabis is that police would no
longer be the bad guy for so many Americans who happen to consume this
product.

Dan Linn

Chicago
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MAP posted-by: Matt