Pubdate: Mon, 03 Feb 2014
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Contact: http://www.startribunecompany.com/143
Copyright: 2014 Star Tribune
Website: http://www.startribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Pubdate: 3 Feb 2014
Author: Benjamin Cherryhomes

SOME MARIJUANA RISKS ARE HARD TO PIN DOWN. SOME AREN'T

The Jan. 26 editorial cartoon by Steve Sack, depicting the relative 
numbers of grave sites necessitated by deaths due to alcohol, tobacco 
and marijuana, made this reader unsettled - not so much by what it 
said but by what it did not.

No, few deaths are attributable to marijuana in this country, but 
hundreds die brutally every year south of our border providing this 
product to U.S. consumers. Our country could end this "outsourcing" 
of death by legalizing marijuana (we grow some of the best pot in the 
world), capturing tax revenue from the legal sale of a homegrown 
product, and reducing the pain and suffering of chemotherapy patients 
by making marijuana available to those who need it. Prohibition of 
alcohol gave rise to organized crime in this country. Prohibition of 
marijuana has done the same in Mexico.

Benjamin Cherryhomes

Hastings
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom