LET'S HAVE AN HONEST POT DEBATE

Re "Legal pot? Let's talk - for right reasons" (Editorial, May 7): We
need to talk, all right. We need to have an honest debate about all
costs of prohibition. Any serious debate about the pros and cons of
pot laws needs to include not only discussion of possible tax revenue
but also the significant costs of maintaining law enforcement's
anti-drug culture. What's the tab taxpayers pick up for
investigation, surveillance, equipment and enforcement? What about
the proportionate costs of courtrooms, judges, prosecutors, bailiffs,
clerks, etc., followed by incarceration costs and prison staffing?
How many billions are spent on the huge but rarely discussed
international drug wars?

Then there are the soft costs: Drug prosecutions competing with
serious crimes for court time, clogging the courts and impairing
justice; stigmatization of arrestees, thereby harming employment
prospects and pushing those folks away from being productive,
invested citizens; untold hours wasted in state and federal
government by legislators arguing ideology.

Any honest assessment is likely to find the costs of drug laws - and
savings, if we change the laws - to be in the billions, not the
"billion dollars or so in tax revenues (that) won't make much of a
dent in California's budget."

The drugs are here and a daily part of society. It's stupid to
continue to waste money having a minority of out-of-touch people
impose morality on a society that has changed.

- - Terry Lamphier, Grass Valley