CONSENT SEEMS LIKELY

To the editor:

Money, while important, is not all that matters (Taylor Armerding:
"State can fill its coffers by treating pot like gambling," Oct. 24).
What also matters is that our laws comply with the federal and state
constitutions; both suppose the consent of the governed. The vote on
Question 2 annihilated the notion prohibition of possession backed by
criminal sanction had such consent. The vote on Question 2 and the
rampant civil disobedience to the law -- over 10 percent of
Massachusetts voters consumed it last month -- establish there is not
consent here for the prohibition of its commerce.

According to the U.S. Justice Department's medical marijuana policy
memorandum issued Oct. 19, the black market provides "significant
source of revenue to large-scale criminal enterprises." So too did
alcohol prohibition. The only constitutional policy toward marijuana
consists of regulations and a level of taxation reasonable enough so
that the people will generally send their money to the state rather
than resorting to the black market in their pursuit of their
subjective happiness.

Steven S. Epstein

Georgetown