TUCSON - Heather McNeeley already had spent one birthday behind bars for using drugs, and she was looking at another 3.5 years in prison for possessing and trying to sell heroin in 2012.

Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, however, gave McNeeley a chance to stay out of the pokey.

McNeeley was allowed to enroll in the county's Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison (DTAP) program - the only one of its kind in Arizona.

LaWall said DTAP, started in 2010 and funded mostly by federal grants, costs less than half of what it takes to send a non-violent drug offender to prison. LaWall, a prosecutor for nearly 40 years, added that the state could save millions of dollars if it shifted money to drug treatment instead of adding more private prison beds.

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While marijuana advocates look to legalize in Arizona, concerns remain about medical marijuana program By Jayson Chesler, Lex Talamo and Sean Logan

Whether he's advocating for marijuana or gathering petitions for a ballot initiative, it's tough to miss Dave Wisniewski, chairman of Safer Arizona, a political action committee. His rigid 6-foot-4-inch stature makes him easy to notice. His giant "Marijuana is safer than alcohol" sign helps, too.

Wisniewski said he uses medical marijuana to treat his back pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. He supported marijuana legalization well before his time in the military, but the conditions he developed while serving overseas in the Army showed him the drug's medical benefits compared to the four pharmaceutical drugs doctors prescribed him after his combat service.

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I agree with the headline of Joe Adam Diaz' Sunday letter: "Don't blame Mexico for our drug problem."

However, it's not drug use that causes crime and corruption but rather the criminalization of drugs. How much crime and corruption do we have related to the drug caffeine?

None. None whatsoever. If we were to criminalize products containing caffeine the situation would soon change.

- - Kirk Muse, Mesa

[end]

The United States consumes more illegal narcotics by far than any other nation in the world. This country sends billions of dollars to Mexico and other countries south of our border for narcotics.

Drug cartels were necessary to manage the volume. It is simple supply and demand. Mexico gets blamed for the U.S. drug problem, but it's the insatiable and ever-increasing desire for dope in this country that keeps illegal drugs flowing north from Mexico.

Nearly all guns used in Mexican drug wars originate in the United States. Some of those guns have been traced back to U.S. government agencies. Despite drug wars fought over the U.S. dope market, the murder rate in the United States far overshadows that of Mexico.

Mexico is not to blame for the drug problem in the United States. There would be no drug cartels or drug traffic if not for the demand for dope from the United States.

- - Joe Adam Diaz, Phoenix

[end]

Kyle Catlin and His Attorney Say He Did Nothing Wrong, and Are Counting on Arizona's Medical Marijuana Law's Ambiguity to Prevent Him From Life in Prison

The thought of possibly spending close to 100 years in prison terrifies Kyle Catlin.

But he's mostly concerned about his mom. She's not in the best of health. If something were to happen to her, "I may not even be allowed to leave prison to go to my mom's funeral, and that's super fucked up," he says. "I'm probably not gonna see her, except for behind glass for the rest of my life. It hurts so much to think about that I try not to think about it and move on with my day."

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Judith Ray (Thursday letters) claims, "we all know that there is a serious drug problem in our schools with the legalization of medical marijuana," yet she does not cite any scientific studies to substantiate this myth.

A study recently published in Lancet Psychiatry found "no hint of an increase (in teenage use) at all" in states that legalized medical marijuana. This study, by Dr. Deborah Hasin of Columbia University, was based on surveys of more than 1 million adolescents in 48 states.

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I recently moved to Arizona from Denver, where I served as the metro Denver coordinator for The Salvation Army. While there, I witnessed the unintended consequences of legalized marijuana for which neither the city nor the state were prepared.

Our organization provided an emergency shelter in downtown Denver. When I arrived three years ago the shelter was averaging 200 men per night. When I left in May, the shelter was averaging 600 per night and every shelter in the city was full to overflowing.

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Marijuana is either a harmless recreational high or a valuable medicine.

Or both. Or neither.

We don't really know. But we are being asked to make major policy choices anyway.

A proposal to add to the list of approved uses for medical marijuana includes eight new conditions, from arthritis and Autism to Tourette's syndrome and traumatic brain injury.

Why stop there? Let's just say it's a tonic for whatever ails you.

OK. Some people may benefit from medical marijuana, but official numbers on who uses it make me skeptical.

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Schools superintendent Diane Douglas blasted an effort to legalize marijuana in Arizona in a statement to the Insider, saying the use of "drug money" to fund schools would be "evil and hypocritical."

If approved by voters, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol would set up a system where consumers could openly buy marijuana. A tax on the cannabis would help fund K-12 education and, according to the campaign's estimates, could raise more than $40 million the first year for schools.

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With a federal ban on marijuana, states are left to craft their own medical pot rules-whether they work or not

After waiting in line for hours at a booth during a medical marijuana convention in San Francisco, Jeff Harrington needed only a two-minute consultation and a written recommendation to become a medical marijuana patient in California. He now can legally purchase and possess marijuana from any one of thousands of marijuana businesses in the state.

Across the country in Connecticut, an established physician-patient relationship is required before patients are deemed qualified for medical marijuana, and only licensed pharmacists can own and operate dispensaries.

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Regarding the Saturday letter asking marijuana advocates to "own their passion," I, for one, am absolutely willing to own it.

I want marijuana legalized because I enjoy the feeling I get after I smoke it. I couldn't care less how much tax revenue it could potentially raise for schools, how much more money it would save in enforcement and incarceration costs, or even how much more rope or paper an acre of hemp yields versus an acre of trees.

I just want to smoke a bowl in the privacy of my own home.

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Advocates for legalizing recreational marijuana in Arizona say it could provide $40 million for education. Reaping $40 million in marijuana taxes sounds good until you consider all the costs.

Extrapolating from a Rand Corporation study, Arizona spends $20 million each year for schizophrenia hospitalizations caused by marijuana. That comes out of the state budget.

Then consider the cost of drugged driving arrests and injuries, increased need for drug treatment, and policing underage use.

That $40 million gets eaten up fast and the state ends up in the red.

Just like alcohol and tobacco, legal marijuana would drain state coffers.

- - Prescott

[end]

When I was 9 years old, a few older playmates from my fourth-through-sixth grade class started disappearing at lunchtime recesses. It took a long time before I found out what they were doing, somewhere off school grounds.

They were smoking pot.

This came to mind last week when proponents of Arizona's main marijuana-legalization effort pledged to provide $40 million per year in marijuana tax revenue for education if their initiative passes.

Even though I'm an instinctive advocate of legalization, I agreed when Arizona's Republican Party chairman, Robert Graham, called the pro-legalization event a "pathetic display." What's pathetic is the suggestion that $40 million means anything significant to a state public school system that spends around $4.7 billion of state money every year.

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The Arizona Republic's Friday editorial questioning marijuana-legalization proponents' claim that $40 million would go to schools may be correct. There are other factors that should be considered.

In the same issue it was reported that DPS apprehend smugglers on I-17 and I-40 and recovered primarily marijuana. These smugglers are likely bound for an Arizona prison at an absurd expense. Additional expenses include the resources expended on the officer's time, the prosecutors and the courts. Avoiding these expenses would free up money for schools

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Experts and Users Warn of the Risks of Casual Smoking.

Elisabeth Davies smoked marijuana to escape. To ease anxiety. To decompress and forget about life's responsibilities.

Davies started as a social smoker at 17. Years would go by, and she wouldn't smoke pot.

"It made me feel better," said Davies, a life coach, counselor and author in Peoria. "It took away my anxiety and stress. It made my emotions more tolerable."

But when her father died 10 years ago, her casual use became an addiction. She smoked every day after work to escape the grief.

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Thursday's Arizona Republic shares with us the latest smoke screen from the pro-legalized marijuana crowd. It includes the mandatory fake check made out to Arizona Schools and the catchy "Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol" label.

Who would not support that all-American approach?

It would be nice if those smoking their proposed legal product would be honest about what they want. This isn't about the schools or about comparisons to alcohol.

This is about their specific desire to make something currently illegal legal. Period.

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How not to launch a campaign: with a lie. Yet that's what one set of advocates for legalized marijuana did this week. They staged an elaborate event on the state Capitol lawn to claim that taxing marijuana sales would pump $40 million into education. They even had a massive check made out to "Arizona Schools" for that amount. (Here's hoping no one was puffing enough to try to deposit that thing.)

The campaign's chairman, J.P. Holyoak, asserted that legalizing marijuana would be "for the benefit of education and public-health care." What bunk. That $40 million figure is pulled out of thin air. It is belied by the experience of states that jumped into this ill-begotten experiment. The Colorado initiative that legalized pot, for instance, promises the first $40 million each year will help pay for school construction. The tax generated $13.3 million last year, and might - might - reach $20 million this year.

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I need to get something straight before I make a rash decision. I can't be the only one who is confused by this issue!

We're being asked to support the legalization of marijuana. And the sterling reason to do this would be to use the gazillions of dollars in revenue from taxes to fund our education system. So far so good!

But I think I'm missing something here. Any scientist worth his salt (who is not smoking marijuana) will tell you that marijuana causes loss and or damage to brain cells.

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Most Native American tribes are opting not to legalize marijuana, though at least two are poised to try it just six months after a U.J. Justice Department memo indicated federal authorities likely would not interfere with growing marijuana on tribal lands if other federal crimes were not committed.

Many tribes exploring their options said that as U.S. citizens and sovereign nations, they deserve the right to choose to legalize as states have done. However, tribes continue to balk at the vague language of the Justice Department's so-called "Cole Memorandum" and the fear of federal prosecution.

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Group: Initiative Would Help Underfunded Schools

Legalizing and taxing marijuana could raise an additional $40 million a year for education, according to estimates by the campaign to legalize the drug in Arizona.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is gathering signatures to qualify for the 2016 ballot, would establish a network of licensed cannabis shops where sales of the drug would be taxed.

J.P. Holyoak, campaign chairman, said at a news conference at the state Capitol, "We have a choice: We can either tax and regulate marijuana for the benefit of education and public-health care, or we can keep it illegal for the benefit of illegal drug cartels."

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