DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA

In response to your Tuesday editorial ("Policing cigarettes," Opinion,
June 2):

Chicago remembers the downside of alcohol prohibition, so I am not
surprised at your dismissal of prohibition as a method for tobacco
regulation.

In the past, you've recommended the decriminalization of marijuana,
but I recall no editorial recommending that it be legal and regulated.
It should be.

Except for its illegality, marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.
Getting marijuana out of the drug war would allow honest research on
its risks and its merits as medicine.

John Chase, Palm Harbor, Florida