LEGALIZATION BENEFITS

I'm writing about DJ Funkhouser's thoughtful column "It's weed, get
over it."

Our government is wasting countless billions of dollars attempting to
eradicate an easy-to-grow type of marijuana that at least 95 million
Americans have used. The net result is that the drug is just as
available today as it was in the 1970s.

Instead of attempting to nullify the immutable law of supply and
demand, our government should regulate, control and tax marijuana. We
could easily tax it at about 90 percent of its retail price. The vast
majority of marijuana's current price is the result of the
"prohibition tax," which is now going to organized crime.

It seems to me that non-users would be very much in favor of taxing a
product that they don't use. Around here, taxing somebody else's vice
is very popular.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.