Monroe Anderson makes a passionate plea to legalize marijuana in Illinois [column, Nov. 12]. It is an intriguing possibility. Exciting, even.

Legalizing the production and distribution of marijuana would be good for lots of people we haven't even stopped to consider. It would be good for the pickers in the field, who would be able to bargain for fair wages from legal corporations without fear of violent retribution. It would be good for the distributors who would no longer live with the threat of being shot down in the street by the competition. And it would be good for the consciences of those 94 million Americans who have been financing that bloodshed for so long.

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