MISINFORMATION, AND MUCH MISSING IN COLUMN'S VIEW

ALEX BEAM'S "Gone to pot" (April 20, "g") begins with a flippant
headline, followed by misdating the anniversary of the siege of Boston
to 1776. The siege began late on April 19, 1775 and ended on
Evacuation Day, the Suffolk County holiday that celebrates the British
leaving on March 17, 1776.

As for substance, the debate over the continued prohibition of
marijuana is whether we should repeal prohibition or perpetuate it.

By labeling those of us who seek repeal as "stoners," Mr. Beam
reveals his affection for the latter. That is his right, but missing
from his column is disclosure of how many more people must to be
arrested, prosecuted, and punished before marijuana will go away, how
much that will cost and where the money will come from.

Those of us who seek repeal of the national prohibition know repeal
will permit states, like Massachusetts where over 10 percent of people
over 18 use it at least monthly, to bring the enormous underground
commerce in marijuana into a regulated framework analogous to our
regulation of beer, wine, and hard cider.

An estimated half-billion dollars a year in tax revenue could be
harvested from a regulated commerce in marijuana. It would also open
up the tremendous untapped potential of hemp as a resource for
creating Massachusetts jobs in food, biofuels, and fiber production.

Steven S. Epstein

Georgetown

The writer is an officer on the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition.