POT TRADE IS GATEWAY TO CRIME

Thank you for your Aug. 13 article on the Gary Reams campaign ["Candidate
pushes his 'reeferendum'"]. I'm glad Reams is running this year because
marijuana reform should be on the table for discussion, as the prohibition
is causing far more harm than the plant itself.

As a parent, I would rather see marijuana for sale in state stores than in
schools. I don't believe it is a gateway drug (an opinion I formed after
reading the 1999 federally commissioned study, "Marijuana and Medicine").
But I do believe the illegal marijuana industry is the prominent gateway
into organized crime.

We can't keep drugs out of prisons. Professional prison guards can't resist
the associated profit motive. Why do we expect our 14-year-old children to
be more resilient?

I'm glad to see at least one candidate talking about this problem we have
created for ourselves. I'm also glad to see The Daily Journal covering the
issue, despite the fact that the major party candidates won't discuss it. I
guess the fact that organized drug dealers have recruited students in every
high school and junior high school in the state just isn't that important
to them.

PAUL MILLER

Woodbridge