MEDICAL, ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., has
introduced legislation that would decriminalize the use of up to 100
grams of cannabis (marijuana) on the federal level.

The late Milton Friedman, an alumnus of Rutgers University, and other
noted economists signed a petition claiming the legalization,
regulation and taxation of marijuana would make us $10 billion per
year. Considering the relative safety of cannabis, this option should
certainly be considered.

In the New Jersey Legislature, there are two pending medical cannabis
bills -- A-804 and its companion S-119. In 2006, the Senate Health
Committee heard live testimony from Montel Williams and the late Dr.
John P. Morgan, a drug policy reform leader, but Senate Health
Committee Chairman Joseph Vitale refused to post the bill for a vote
because "it's too controversial," even though he had previously
sponsored a Senate Health Committee bill that would give clean needles
to drug addicts.

Let's start reforming the marijuana laws by recognizing a medical
necessity defense.

It is time we stop wasting precious tax money punishing people for the
use, possession and sale of this wonderful herb. Keep in mind that we
now know that our bodies make "endogenous cannabinoids," and
scientists believe that children cannot develop normally without
endogenous cannabinoids.

RICHARD PAUL ZUCKERMAN

New Brunswick