MAKING POT LEGAL WOULD SOLVE MANY PROBLEMS

The newspaper reports that drug cartels are armed to protect their
marijuana gardens on public land. There is obviously a large market
for marijuana, and pot growers are entrepreneurs filling that market.

Wouldn't it be safer for everyone if marijuana were decriminalized?
Then pot growers could have their gardens on their own land and be
taxed like other farmers. Law enforcement officers wouldn't have to
risk their lives trying to eradicate part of the crop from public
lands, and those lands would be safe for hikers and other people who
like to be outdoors.

Marijuana use would be like alcohol use is now, and treatment should
be available for the small percentage of users who get in trouble
with their drug of choice.

- -- Sally Hollemon, Salem