POT IS JUST ANOTHER COMMODITY

Why do the police spend so much of their time arresting people on marijuana
charges? Growing marijuana is like farming, just the same as growing
potatoes or carrots.

Marijuana should be treated like alcohol, since it alters the mind but is
not a hallucinogen. On the average it costs $25,000 each year to
incarcerate one person. A marijuana charge can keep that person in jail at
least five years. The more people whose simple lives we destroy, the more
money we waste. This money could be used to rehabilitate recovering addicts.

I think it's time the police started focusing on real crimes again. Let's
give people back the right to choose for themselves whether or not they use
marijuana. In the recent election, Proposition 5 was defeated because the
supporters wanted to free the people who were already in jail. Because they
were criminals at the time they were jailed, they shouldn't be let out.
However, people who use marijuana now shouldn't be victimized because they
choose to use it or grow it.

- -- Erik Fowler
Anchorage