'MADSTERDAM'

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's story about Madison in 2031 failed to consider
whether we would still have marijuana prohibition (4/7/06). In 2031,
54 years after Madison voted to legalize medical marijuana and private
possession for personal use, will there be cannabis coffeeshops like
in Holland? Will patients have safe access to their medicine from
dispensaries? Will cannabis bloom on State Street? Or will we still be
mired in a lost war that currently arrests over 750,000 Americans per
year?

Madison with regulated pot sales and cannabis coffeeshops -- let's
call it Madsterdam -- would be safer, less violent and less angry.
While Cieslewicz envisions a "new biological agent" being used to make
future gatherings at Halloween and on Mifflin St. happier and less
prone to violence, such an agent already exists with cannabis. Roll
'em up!

Gary Storck

Madison NORML

www.madisonnorml.org