MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION LONG OVERDUE

To the Daily:

Your editorial for ending marijuana prohibition was right on target. A
stop to this abysmal, failed war on drugs is long overdue. In 1967, as
Editorial Director of the Daily, I wrote a similar editorial. Back
then it was national news. ABC Radio called from New York, as did
various TV interview shows.

Most of us thought pot would be legalized within a very few years. We
figured the big tobacco companies would just start marketing it
themselves. Rumor had it they were already copyrighting brand names
like "Maui Wowee" and "Panama Red." We didn't see Nixon or Reagan
coming. Or Clinton, for that matter.

We also didn't realize that one of the key reasons pot isn't legal is
that it's too easy to grow. Corporations can dominate tobacco to feed
nicotine addiction, or booze for alcohol addicts. But pot, which is
not physically addictive, can be grown by anyone. There's no money in
it for big corporations because any consumer can grow weed in their
own closet or backyard that's just as good as the big guys'.

It's pretty much the same reason that we don't have solar power - if
you can power your house with roof top collectors, who needs the
utilities? Many people thought they'd jump in. But how do you charge
for what's otherwise free.

So for the time being, the sun's energy, which could power the world,
is somehow "impractical." If it keeps threatening to shut down the
nuclear power industry, maybe it too will soon be illegal.

In the meantime, keep chipping away. Both major candidates for
president have clearly inhaled. It doesn't seem to have done much
good. But sooner or later, something will give.

Harvey Wasserman

Alumnus