MARIJUANA ENFORCEMENT CREATES WASTE ON ALL LEVELS

I read with interest at story in the July 29 Times-News by Keren
Rivas, Dozens of marijuana plants found in county.

Unless you are in complete denial, the 1937 Congressional Record tells
us America prohibited pot without any real scientific testimony, no
medical expertise and a media campaign based on bigotry three
generations ago. Meanwhile, science finds all over again a host of
medical conditions that marijuana treats effectively and every
objective review of the past century finds it less harmful than
tobacco or alcohol products.

Unless we tax and regulate marijuana there will be crops in the wild
each year and clandestine indoor grows operating year round without
regard for any law.

A regulated marijuana marketplace keeps this drug from our children as
the Dutch and Portuguese experiments report sans U.S. government
propaganda. What we have today is little more than a cops and robbers
game with no clear results and much grandstanding by those who do not
really understand this issue.

In the time it took to write this letter, about half a dozen Americans
were arrested for marijuana offenses, usually simple possession,
resulting in little more than a drain on the taxpayer with certainly
no end in sight.

Peter Christopher

Hurdle Mills