STATE SHOULD PROSECUTE VIOLENT CRIME, NOT MARIJUANA USE

Dear Editor:

State law continues to incarcerate individuals who use, possess,
cultivate or distribute marijuana, even if the marijuana is for
personal use by adults. The legislature has a chance to change this
state policy; but this year, again, it has failed to do so.

Incarceration of nonviolent individuals not only wastes taxpayer
money, it overcrowds prisons so much that violent criminals are often
allowed to go free when they are eligible for parole.

Drug-free zones within the state force marijuana offenders into long,
mandatory sentences. A person who uses marijuana in his or her home
should not be subject to a year in prison because that home is near a
school or other drug-free zone.

Without a legal, regulated market for marijuana, drug dealers have no
reason not to target children or to sell contaminated and dangerous
samples. If marijuana were treated more like alcohol, for example,
children would have a harder time obtaining it. Worst of all, cancer
and AIDS patients who use medical marijuana with their doctors'
approval are subject to all of these state penalties for marijuana.

Marijuana causes less harm to individuals and society than alcohol or
tobacco; and yet, responsible adult drinkers and smokers are not punished
by the state in any way. Our state government should use tax money to
prosecute violent crime, not punish marijuana users.

Sincerely,

Steve and Lori Renteria

Safford