LEGALIZE, TAX AND REGULATE GROWTH AND USE OF MARIJUANA

The experience of Brett and Keri Johnson, former Gull Lake teachers
recently convicted of having a small marijuana garden in their
basement, is a sad one for them.

When multiplied by 800,000, it becomes a tragedy for the rest of us.

The FBI's 2006 Uniform Crime Report pegged marijuana arrests for 2006
at 829,625. More than 90 percent of those arrests were for simple
possession or small-scale, personal-use cultivation.

Prior to arrest, hundreds of thousands of people, like the Johnsons,
were tax-paying, otherwise law-abiding, contributing community
members. Following arrest, they became tainted for life with the
scarlet letter labeling them a drug criminal. For a substance that's
safer than tobacco, alcohol or caffeine. Common aspirin kills 1,000
yearly. Marijuana kills zero.

The Johnson's lives have now been turned topsy-turvy. Not by
marijuana but by marijuana prohibition. Careers ended, homestead
threatened with civil forfeiture, their characters thoroughly
besmirched. Simply because they made the safer choice to relax with a
joint rather than a beer.

Marijuana prohibition and civil forfeiture are cash cows for law
enforcement and governments always anxious to develop new revenue
streams. The Johnson's are just one more on the long list of
small-scale marijuana cultivators who have been swept up in the
Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team's "dollars for collars" program.

Marijuana is Michigan's third most valuable cash crop with an annual
value of $350 million. Tax free. At the same time, we're spending
$158 million to enforce marijuana prohibition and make criminals out
of people like the Johnson's.

Enough already. It's time to show the courage and honesty our
grandparents showed when they admitted that alcohol prohibition was a failure.

Treat marijuana like alcohol and tobacco: heavily taxed, regulated
and sold by licensed vendors who check identification. Demand our
police start chasing down real criminals and stop wasting time and
resources on nickel-and-dime marijuana cases. End rampant asset
forfeiture abuse. Stop getting tough on marijuana and start getting
smart instead.

Legalize, regulate, tax, control. There is a better way.