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IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

I'm writing to advocate for marijuana legalization, to stop hunting and jailing people based on disproved ideas and myths, to stop making police officers enemies to our children and to stop pouring billions of dollars down a bottomless hole.

In 1972, a study commissioned by the Nixon administration found that marijuana is relatively harmless.  The study was scrapped because the facts did not provide the desired result.

Personally, I never found pot all that appealing.  In the last 50 years since high school, I've known a few people who don't smoke, but I can't think of anyone who believes in punishment for those who do.  I used to worry about my kids being caught up in this cops-and-robbers stuff.  But like many, I did nothing, as if it was an accepted part of life.  But soon I'll have the same concerns for my grandchildren, and I find that a bit hard to take.

Now, many states have legalized what New Jersey will still imprison you for, while taking your money, and ruining your career.  And it will spend billions of our tax revenue to do it.  It's absurd.

I won't ask Gov.  Chris Christie to reconsider.  Obviously, this is a calculated political position, unrelated to the facts, or even beliefs.

His position lacks common sense, compassion and the consensus of New Jersey's voters.  But it can no longer be seen as just another inevitable part of our lives.  It's time for this anachronism to become extinct.

S.O.  Schiro

Red Bank