LEGALIZING POT SENSIBLE

Re: Timm Herdt's May 21 essay, "It's about the economy":

I appreciate that Herdt included my call for legal, taxed and
regulated marijuana in his essay, but I don't think he realizes that
this idea is no longer considered so "far out."

A recent Field Poll found that 56 percent of Californians favor
legalizing and taxing marijuana to create a new revenue stream for the
state -- more than twice those who support new sales or gas taxes.

California's budget crisis aside, marijuana prohibition isn't working.
Just as alcohol Prohibition left booze in the hands of violent
mobsters, marijuana prohibition is enriching brutal cartels south of
the border but is doing nothing to stop marijuana use here at home.

Three former Latin American presidents have called on the United
States to end marijuana prohibition as a way to defund the cartels, as
have many U.S. opinion leaders.

Ending marijuana prohibition is not "far out." It's simple common
sense.

- -- F. Aaron Smith,

Santa Rosa

(The writer is California policy director of the Marijuana Policy
Project, www.mpp.org. -- Editor)