LEGALIZE MARIJUANA TO CURB GANG ACTIVITY

Barack Obama has stated that the war on drugs has been an abysmal
failure. In California, where state budgets are in freefall, they are
looking at the possibility of legalizing marijuana. According to the
New York Times, Betty Yee, chairwoman of the California Board of
Equalization, the state's tax collector, said that legal marijuana
could raise nearly $1 billion per year via a $50-per-ounce fee charged
to retailers. An additional $400 million could be raised through sales
tax on marijuana.

The law would also establish a smoking age -- 21 -- effectively
putting marijuana in a similar regulatory class with alcohol and tobacco.

California marijuana advocates argue that legalization could also
decrease pressure on the state's overburdened prison system and law
enforcement officers.

Why isn't the Canadian government admitting the fact that the present
approach does not work and that the only people benefiting from the
current lunacy are the gangs and criminal growers?

Instead, Stephen Harper is again proposing locking up masses of
people, which will clog the court system and overcrowd the jails at
taxpayers' expense.

We need to remove the financial incentive that perpetuates the cycle
of violence and drugs.

Legalize it, tax it, regulate it.

In these economic times, why are government officials wasting public
money doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results?

Marilyn Bachmann

Sidney