LEGALIZE POT AND HELP SCHOOLS, TOO

What a shame that Alabama school students will be among the first to
suffer the effects of the economic downturn, when our state already
has some of the lowest per-pupil spending in the nation.

According to the most recent data that I can find, Alabama on average
spends a little over $8,000 per student per year. Yet we spend a
minimum of $13,000 per year to lock up a nonviolent citizen for
smoking marijuana.

Instead of making responsible adult cannabis consumers a burden on
state taxpayers by forcing taxpayers to pay for incarceration, why not
regulate and tax marijuana like we do with alcohol and tobacco? We
could use the taxes collected to make our education system better.

There's a whole base of cannabis consumers in Alabama who would be
more than happy to be taxed in exchange for a safe, regulated market.

Not only could we use the money raised in taxes for public education,
but we could also use it for drug prevention education and to fund
treatment for those addicted to harder drugs.

It would be a superb deal all the way around.

Loretta Nall

Alexander City

Editor's note: Ms. Nall was the 2006 Libertarian nominee for governor
of Alabama.