SHADY POLITICS BEHIND MARIJUANA BAN?

Dear Editor,

I'm writing about: "Let's Face the Truth, America: A War on Drugs Is
a War On Ourselves" (Oct. 12).

Beyond just the use of marijuana as medicine, why do so many of our
politicians want to keep a natural herb, that has never been
documented to kill a single person, a criminalized substance? Why do
apparently intelligent people want to arrest and jail other people who
use or sell an easy-to-grow weed?

Perhaps to understand their position we should study the history of
U.S. alcohol prohibition. The notorious gangster Al Capone made most
of his illegal money from alcohol prohibition. Capone often bragged
that he "owned" the city of Chicago. Obviously, he didn't own all of
the city of Chicago; however, he had most or all of the politicians
and police who ran the city on his payroll. Al Capone was a successful
businessman and it is not unreasonable to suspect that the drug
cartels of today are following his business model.

It's also not unreasonable to suspect that the drug cartels may have
many high-level politicians and police officials on their payroll.
Obviously, the type of politicians the drug cartels would have on
their payroll are those who advocate the continuation of the status
quo of drug prohibition, which is making the drug cartels so
fabulously wealthy.

I'm not saying that any specific so-called "drug warrior" is on the
payroll of the drug cartels. I'm just a little suspicious of the
motives of all of the drug-war cheerleaders.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Arizona