WRONG APPROACH BY REILLY

As a law enforcement officer, I could see a biased Tom Riley being
against marijuana decriminalization, but as a gubernatorial candidate
I would expect a more enlightened, leadership position on the pending
marijuana bill ("AG Reilly slams idea to soften penalties," Feb. 15).

With a little research Mr. Riley would find out that in the states
where marijuana is decriminalized, the youth there smoke marijuana
at lower rates than in Massachusetts. It is a simple known fact that
criminalizing marijuana drives teens to try marijuana. It is the
"forbidden fruit" syndrome; somewhat akin to "don't touch yourself
or you'll go blind."

Prior to marijuana prohibition in 1937, marijuana was used primarily
by jazz musicians and migrant Mexican workers, without any adverse
consequences that can be truthfully documented.

With the advent of marijuana prohibition and the government's
national smear campaign against marijuana, the little known plant
became the "rebel outlaw" that needed to be tried by our youth. Of
course, with national exposure, marijuana use caught on and spread
like wildfire across the nation.

Last year there were over 700,000 arrests for marijuana (about 85
percent for simple possession) and prior to prohibition we had none.
The war on marijuana has cost tens of billions of dollars while only
increasing marijuana use.

I sure don't want police wasting time arresting, transporting and
processing anyone for simple marijuana possession. Police are highly
paid law enforcement officers and should concentrate on more
important public safety matters.

Kim Hanna