LEGALING WOULD DIMINISH DEMAND

I'm writing about Jon Beydler's thoughtful opion: "Legalizing
marijuana would cripple drug cartels" (July 16). I'd like to add that
legalizing marijuana would also greatly diminish demand for it over
the long term.

In the Netherlands marijuana has been quasi legal for several decades
and yet the Dutch use marijuana at less than half the rates
American's do. See the web site: www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

Before marijuana was criminalized nationally via the Marijuana Tax
Act of 1937, we only had about 100,000 marijuana users. Now the U. S.
government estimates that at least 100 million Americans have used it.

The lure of the forbidden fruit is very powerful.

KIRK MUSE Mesa