Pubdate: Fri, 01 Mar 2013
Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright: 2013 The Commercial Appeal
Contact: http://web.commercialappeal.com/newgo/forms/letters.htm
Website: http://www.commercialappeal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Bob Honore

THE CASE FOR LEGAL POT

I recently read that a pot dealer in Trenton, Tenn., was given 30 
years in the penitentiary for distributing a couple thousand pounds 
of marijuana. This is an extremely foolish carbon-copy repeat of the 
religiously spawned federal Prohibition of beer and other alcoholic 
products nearly a century ago.

The only drugs I do are aspirin, Finasteride and a few other benign 
medications my VA doctors prescribe; however, I have known hundreds 
of good, solid citizens who do smoke pot in their leisure time, and 
who do function as honest, upstanding members of the business world.

There are many positives we can achieve by legalizing and regulating 
the marijuana trade:

Legalization would dry up the U.S. market for large drug cartels like 
those in Mexico and their gangster-reps in American cities.

Legalization would justify the release from long prison sentences of 
smalltime pot salesmen, mules, etc., probably as many as 500,000 men 
and women who are rotting away in prison right now.

Legalization would enable us to drastically reduce the vast and 
expensive network of federal "pot police" and the state, county and 
city deputies now required to round up the malefactors from every 
level of the marijuana marketing chain, many billions of dollars in savings.

Legalization could generate taxes. It would provide billions in 
income to help pay down our national debt and help fund state, county 
and city projects.

Bob Honore,

Germantown
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