KEEP POT OUTLETS LEASHED

Editor - All it would take for medical marijuana to succeed in states
that have already approved it is for the federal government to "leave
these states alone," says Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project
("Where candidates stand on medical pot," May 12). However, effective
local regulations are also required, and that's the rub overlooked by
Mirken.

San Francisco is a case in point. Our Board of Supervisors continues
to grant waiver after waiver to outlets that are in violation of its
own rules, as Supervisor Sean Elsbernd recently pointed out. As a
result, the most unscrupulous of dealers push boundaries as far as
they can in the pursuit of profits, to the detriment of the public
interest.

Until we have effective local regulations that are enforced in fact as
well as theory, neighborhoods that experience abuse from rogue outlets
have no option left but to call in the feds.

Arthur Evans

San Francisco