With the Vermont governor's signing of a bill this month to legalize medical marijuana, eight states have now approved the sale and use of marijuana for medical purposes. But today in Iowa, a person who is found to possess even small amounts of marijuana that they might use for bona fide medical problems is subject to arrest and time in jail - -- not to mention the costly legal expense to hire an attorney, take time off from work and possible jeopardy to a career.

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The war on drugs has failed. It's time to legalize marijuana, decriminalize other drugs, and implement science-based policies instead of fear-mongering.

These are not the words of drug-reform advocates, but those of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a 19-member panel made up of high-profile international experts. The panel's June 2 report declared the war on drugs a failure in no uncertain terms.

If the drug war was supposed to accomplish anything, it was to decrease the consumption of drugs and limit access to them. Quite the opposite has happened.

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Regarding your April 13 editorial, drugs did not spawn Mexico's organized crime networks. Just like alcohol prohibition gave rise to Al Capone, drug prohibition created the violent drug-trafficking organizations behind all the killings in Mexico.

With alcohol prohibition repealed in the United States, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each other down in drive-by shootings. It's worth noting that Mexico's upsurge in violence only began after an anti-drug crackdown created a power vacuum among competing cartels.

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Regarding your thoughtful editorial: "Mexico's cartels should be treated the same as terrorists organizations" (4-12-11).

I submit that it is high time to defund the Mexican drug cartels and thus put them out of business the same way we defunded the alcohol cartels and thus put them out of business in 1933.

All other efforts are a complete waste of time, money and lives.

Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.

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Not far from the United States border to Mexico, another mass grave was discovered only days ago.

Mass graves, beheadings, hangings, and bullets in the back of the head or three to the chest executions are fairly commonplace among the drug cartels littering Mexico.

These tactics are used to intimidate the people living in "drug towns" - -- towns used for the smuggling of drugs, weapons and kidnappings back and forth across the U.S. border -- into working for the cartels and to establish territory between the rival cartels.

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Efforts to keep dangerous drugs out of the hands of Iowans and Americans is frustrated by a fast-paced drug market which churns out new strands and new types of drugs, often faster than federal and state agents can act to regulate these substances before the consequences are known.

One such substance is synthetic cannabis or K2. Synthetic cannabis was developed to circumvent state and federal laws which make cannabis illegal; yet this new synthetic version is anything but harmless.

An Indianola teen took his life last summer after using K2 and suffering the equivalent of a panic attack. The earlier we act to make these drugs unavailable, the sooner we can potentially save lives. By acting now, we can begin to limit the supply of these drugs, and prosecute the producers.

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One area of the federal budget that should be cut is the money spent to fight the drug wars. Primarily, this means decriminalizing personal drug use by peaceful adults and regulating the sale of currently illegal drugs. Whether we are talking about controlled drugs or prescription drugs, it should not be a civil or criminal offense for peaceful and honest adults to ingest any substance.

If a person drives a vehicle while intoxicated or commits crimes to support a drug habit, that is a different situation, and it is a proper role of government to protect citizens against the real threats to physical harm by others. It is also a proper role of our government to protect children. But, we should not wreck the futures of peaceful adults by giving them a criminal record for drug use.

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An ethics review has cleared a state lawmaker who admitted he lied about having hemorrhoids to obtain a medical marijuana prescription in California.

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, said his actions were meant to show that legalization of the drug for medical purposes is unwise there and would be in Iowa, too.

He revealed the stunt in a newsletter to supporters this past fall. To demonstrate what he believes are abuses of California's medical marijuana laws, he said he lied to a doctor to obtain a prescription in May 2010. He never had the prescription filled, he said.

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It's unlikely that Los Angeles city officials will pursue charges against an Iowa state representative who admitted he lied about having hemorrhoids and depression to obtain a medical marijuana prescription in California, a city councilman said Friday.

"I'd rather spend our city resources on parks and libraries than investigating some state assembly member that comes from somewhere else trying to make his own political point," said Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "It's not worth the energy on my part."

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Some 75 parents of teens sat in silence as they listened to a man about their age share the story of his son's drug-related death.

Mike Rozga of Indianola was the keynote speaker Jan. 20 at a Lincoln High School event called "A Dose of Truth: Things We Don't Want to Talk About."

Rozga's son, David, killed himself in June after smoking K2, known as a synthetic version of marijuana. It can cause severe hallucinations, extreme anxiety, seizures and blackouts.

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In his inaugural, Governor Branstad said Iowa needs radical change, but nothing he is proposing is genuinely radical.

Trimming government, climbing further into bed with business, getting better teachers - those might be fine ideas, but they are hardly radical. They are off-the-shelf old standbys.

Which is probably OK with most Iowans. We like to keep things pretty much the way they are. We don't seek too much excitement.

But wouldn't it be fun to really shake up the place for once? Wouldn't it be invigorating to be out in front for a change?

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It's a messed-up message.

By refusing last week to legalize medical marijuana, the Illinois House said this: Drug dealers and gangs win. Taxpayers lose.

The response to a recent column about the legalization of pot has me more convinced than ever the time has come to end a costly, dangerous and ineffective prohibition.

But don't take my word for it.

Maybe you can imagine my surprise when Iowa 7th District Senior Associate Judge Douglas McDonald, of Bettendorf, wrote to say he also hopes to see cases of pot possession "de-emphasized or legalized."

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If pot is so bad for people, how are so many outstanding athletes able to smoke it?

The Iowa Hawkeyes' Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (DJK) finished the regular season with 46 receptions for 745 yards and 10 touchdowns, making him Iowa's career leader in receptions and receiving yards.

He admitted earlier this month that he smokes pot.

Hawkeye running back Adam Robinson was busted over the weekend for pot possession.

If marijuana is so dangerous, why aren't these men collapsing on the field, rather than breaking records? And why is Willie Nelson alive?

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The article (Dec. 1,Times-Republican) on local legislators opposing the legislative recommendations of the Iowa Pharmacy Board shows that people, including our legislators, do not understand what the board has actually recommended.

The Pharmacy Board has asked that language that authorized it to make regulations to permit medical marijuana be removed from the code. This is not a step toward legalization.

The Board is also recommending marijuana be removed from Schedule I where it was placed by politicians decades ago and placed in Schedule II along with substances like opium.

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I have a confession to make. I hope it won't make you think ill of me. I have never smoked marijuana, not even a puff. Not ever.

Not that I didn't have my chances. Back in 1970 I was covering the Wadena Rock Festival in Iowa (sort of Woodstock lite) when a young woman came up to me and said: "Want me to turn you on?" I'm pretty sure she was talking about pot. I respectfully declined.

Yes, I know, it was weak of me. The best and the brightest of my generation were courageously yielding to temptation while I, coward that I was, retreated from it.

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The Iowa Legislature may consider the marijuana legislation in January

A new Hawkeye Poll shows the majority of Iowans are in favor of medical marijuana, and proposed legislation could make that a possibility.

The poll -- administered by UI professors and students -- found 62 percent of Iowans are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana, which is in line with the results from other states.

This finding comes on the heels of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy's unanimous decision to draw up legislation for the Iowa Legislature to consider when it reconvenes in Januar that would change the designation of marijuana from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 2 drug.

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For all of those hopeful, keep dreaming. Obtaining a written prescription for medical marijuana in Iowa likely won't happen anytime soon, according to one state legislator.

While the Iowa Board of Pharmacy recently took its final step, drawing up legislation for the Iowa Legislature to consider when it reconvenes in January, Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville, told the Editorial Board "the bill has no chance this year." Jacoby said he doesn't expect it to even get out of subcommittee.

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The Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted last week to propose legislation that would reclassify marijuana and make it easier to legalize the drug for medicinal purposes. The board voted 6-0 on Wednesday to propose a bill defining marijuana as a Schedule II drug, many of which may be used for strictly controlled medical treatments.

Iowa is one of more than 30 states that currently lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which are defined as having almost no legal purpose. In addition to the change suggested by the pharmacy board, it would fall to lawmakers to create and approve a medical-marijuana program if they accept the board's recommendation. Such a program - and enforcement of the needed regulations - would require creation of a new bureaucracy or expansion of an existing one.

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If local legislators have their way, a plan by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to introduce and support the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes will go up in smoke.

Last week, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted 6-0 to propose legislation that would reclassify marijuana and therefore make it easier to legalize the drug for use in medicine.

Local legislators are not so keen on the idea.

"As a substance abuse counselor, I have grave concerns about furthering the use of marijuana," said Rep. Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown.

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We can't imagine right-thinking Iowans wanting to deny pain relief to victims of cancer and other diseases.

But that's what's happening because of a stalemate over medical marijuana.

The Iowa Pharmacy Board has rejected a request by a marijuana activist that it write rules allowing marijuana to be used for medical purposes.

But board member Margaret Whitworth says the group is appointed and not elected and should not be writing the law. Instead, the board wants the Legislature to do it.

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