DRUG LEGALIZATION

A Cure For Budget Deficit?

Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. agrees with Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition (LEAP), a collection of retired FBI, DEA, cops,
prosecutors and judges, that America should abandon the ineffective
war on drugs and consider legalization, regulation and taxation
instead ["Let's begin the discussion about legalizing drugs,"
seattletimes.com, Opinion, April 2).

Faced with a billion-dollar budget deficit, Washington could benefit
financially from LEAP's proposal. Illegal drugs constitute
substantial cash-crop opportunities for cash-starved state budgets.

In December 2006, Seattle Times reporter Emily Heffter wrote that
Virginia-based researcher Jon Gettman found pot rivals apples as the
state's biggest cash crop ["Analyst finds that pot rivals apples as
state's biggest cash crop," seattletimes.com, Dec. 23, 2006].

According to Gettman, marijuana has become the biggest cash crop in
the United States, bringing in more annually than corn and wheat
combined. And Washington is the nation's fifth-largest producer,
behind California, Tennessee, Kentucky and Hawaii.

Rather than forfeiting millions in potential tax revenue every year
by criminalizing marijuana, Washington should consider legalization
since marijuana is, as Gettman said, a "pervasive and ineradicable
part of the national economy."

- -- Ralph W. Conner, Chicago