LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO

I believe Scott Herhold (Page B1, July 25) is right with his reasoning
for legalizing marijuana. I think many people don't see that marijuana
brings more benefits compared with it being illegal. The two important
reasons are that it would hurt local gangs who sell marijuana, usually
to underage students for profits. It would also save us millions of
dollars on health care costs for people placed in jails for having
possession of marijuana, which would help bring the state of
California out of the billions of dollars of debt it is in now by only
leaving the people with more serious crimes in jail.

Marijuana is largely a recreational drug. There is no way that the
fight against drugs is going to get rid of marijuana. The government
should tax the purchase of marijuana and invest the money in areas
needing reform like our educational system.

Braulio Chavez

San Jose