STATE CAN'T WIN DRUG WAR, SO WHY NOT REGULATE POT?

I support the intent of the medical marijuana law, but not its
method. The law compares to a Band-Aid over a gaping hole. The
problem rests in the way the medical marijuana law is structured.
More problems are created than solved.

In fact, none of our drug laws are working. They never will work.

The country spends billions to suppress the sale of illegal drugs.
Billions are spent on law enforcement. We fight the growth of poppy
seeds in Afghanistan and elsewhere. We have filled our prisons with
users and small-time dealers. Yet the big-time suppliers are seldom
in jail and are making millions, making it worth the risk.

In the mean time, the violence and bloodletting of drug wars are
spilling over our borders from Mexico. All of this is a waste on a
war that cannot be won. As long as a profit is being made from the
illegal sale of drugs, it will continue.

We have not learned from history. I draw your attention to the days
of Prohibition when the sale of alcohol became illegal. It became
illegal, but the faucet was never turned off. It became a hugely
profitable industry for gangsters. Al Capone and others like him
made alcohol available and built empires on the money made from the
illegal alcohol brought across the Detroit River, the Sault Ste.
Marie River and other ports of entry around the country.

By the time the country awakened to the futility of a winless war,
the empires of the crooks had grown so powerful that they were able
to expand into gambling, prostitution and illegal drugs.

Today, the state of Michigan controls the sale of alcohol through
its outlets. Bars, liquor stores, etc. buy the liquor needed from
the state and sell it to the public. In reality, the taxpayers are
receiving the benefit of money going into state coffers instead of
the money going to illegal suppliers.

Simply, I suggest this model for your consideration. A person in
need of medical marijuana would see a physician to obtain a
prescription for medical marijuana or a derivative. The state would
obtain the drug from a pharmaceutical manufacturer and
would wholesale the drug to licensed pharmacists. The patient could
obtain it cleanly and efficiently from his or her pharmacist. The
illegal supplier would be eliminated. The amount of dosage and the
price would be controlled in the manner that liquor sales are controlled.

I am not in favor of the use of drugs - but I am in favor of
controlling their sale.

A.B. Dalimonte Grand Ledge