NEXT STEP HOMEGROWN

While Question 2 is a step in the right direction, it still forces
cannabis consumers to buy from unscrupulous and potentially dangerous
black marketeers ("Are they high?" Sept. 24). In fact, a major reason
why people take the enormous risk of growing their own is because
personal cultivation is cheaper, safer and a lot more palatable than
supporting that black market.

If adults were permitted to cultivate marijuana for private use under
the same restrictions placed on citizens who craft their own beer and
wine, demand for super-expensive marijuana of shady origin would
plummet along with the associated crime. The message to kids delivered
by parents, not by the government, would hopefully have a familiar
ring to it: You're not old enough to do a lot of things, and trying
marijuana is one of them.

This approach removes the harmless pot user from the war on drugs and
leaves the door open for a taxed commercial segment.

Carl Hedberg,

Lyndeborough, N.H.