TREAT MARIJUANA LIKE ALCOHOL

Re "Proposal would create havoc" (Letters, May 10): I personally
don't think that the legalization of marijuana would have a bad
effect on the state of California. I am also disgusted with the
letter writer's outlook on this proposal as a whole.

The governor and state officials need to look at everything that
would come out of it. Not only the $1.3 billion in annual taxes, but
you also add up the money saved on law enforcement and state prisons.
Use that money to focus law enforcement on chemical drugs, cocaine
and meth. You don't see somebody who has been smoking pot for a year
or two on the streets soliciting themselves for money or drugs, and
having missing or messed-up teeth.

Furthermore, if marijuana were treated just like alcohol, then I
don't see many problems at all. Sell it just like alcohol. Even if
marijuana were legalized, it wouldn't be a problem if it were treated
like alcohol in ways such as you would have to be 21 years old to buy
it. Youths would get into trouble just like they would if it were
alcohol, driving under the influence and such.

There are a lot of white-collar people who enjoy a nice fat joint at
night and take care of their business the next day.

- - Robert Turlington, Folsom