Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2013
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n379/a05.html

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Re "Environment is going to pot" (Dan Morain, Aug. 4): If marijuana 
were fully legal, there would be no backyard or back country growers 
cashing in on inflated marijuana prices. Legitimate farmers would 
produce it by the ton at a fraction of the current cost. There is a 
reason you don't see Mexican drug cartels sneaking into national 
forests to cultivate tomatoes and cucumbers. They cannot compete with 
a legal market.

Marijuana prohibition is a complete failure. The United States has 
higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana 
is legally available to adults. The only clear winners in the war on 
marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians 
who've built careers confusing the drug war's collateral damage with 
a comparatively harmless plant.

- -- Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Arlington, Vir.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom