LEGALIZATION OF POT DEFIES LOGIC

Re "It's time to legalize and regulate pot" (Viewpoints, May 1):
Oakland City Attorney John Russo's article exemplifies everything
that is wrong with the legalization and "regulation" of pot in
California. The logical fallacies are too numerous to count. For
instance, he states that a reason we should legalize marijuana is
because prohibition has done nothing to stop its abuse.

I believe the same thing can be said about many illegal activities,
yet no talk is made of legalizing vandalism or speeding. He also
calls the ban "unscientific," as if there was non-propagandized
information about the harmlessness and safety of marijuana smoke. His
largest misstep by far is comparing the state of things to
Prohibition. Almost in the same breath, he says that the legalization
of pot would take marijuana "out of the hands of children."

As a college student who has seen multiple abuses of alcohol and
marijuana in high school, and has tried to overlook the myriad cases
of underage drinking among my friends and classmates in college, I
think that the regulation of alcohol has failed miserably to keep it
out of the hands of "children." According to Russo's logic, however,
if everyone's doing it anyway, why not just make it legal?

Isaac Smith, Sacramento