LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Daryle White (Letters, May 30) is just another example of the
close-minded sector of society. His belief that the "glorious uses of
marijuana" are "baloney" is erroneous and probably based on the years
of wasteful DARE and PDFA propaganda this nation has been inundated
with since the 1960s.

The truth is that marijuana prohibition has created an unparalleled
economic strain on this country. Besides the billions of dollars spent
on television and radio public service announcements, the hundreds of
thousands spent on the completely ineffective DARE programs, and the
millions spent on police efforts that could be geared at real crime,
we are spending millions every year to incarcerate harmless offenders.
I won't even get into the millions of dollars the government could be
making by taxing legalized marijuana. And all this for a substance
that has been proved over and over to be safer and less addictive than
caffeine!

Amsterdam is a big tourist spot now, thanks to the partial marijuana
legalization the Netherlands enjoys. Not only that, but crime, murder,
hard drug use and addiction rates are several times lower than they
are in the United States. I see absolutely no reason to continue on
the destructive path we are on.

- - Cheryl Goodrich

Anchorage