February 28, 2009 in Letters

High time to OK pot

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I don’t agree with Kathleen Parker often, but I have to agree with her Sunday (Feb. 15) Opinion page column, “Time to rethink anti-drug laws.” Why are we spending billions of dollars to stop people from smoking pot when not one person has died smoking it? Why is it illegal? People say it’s a “gateway drug.” Please, what facts support this? There are none.

This War on Drugs has been going on for as long as I can remember and I’m 60 years old. Didn’t we learn from Prohibition? All we’ve gotten in return is ruining thousands and thousands of lives, billions of dollars to “fight” this war and countless deaths of law enforcement people, innocent bystanders and others. All this for something that doesn’t kill people. Does this make sense?

Then, in Monday’s paper there was an article on the increase in kidnappings in the Phoenix area, most for turf wars over pot. It states “half of all marijuana seized at the U.S.-Mexico border was found along Arizona’s 370 mile-long border.”

It’s long past time to rethink anti-drug laws. Adult possession and growing personal amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized. Resources would be available for serious crimes, as Ms. Parker states.

Alfred Falcon

Spokane

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