LEGAL INDUSTRY STANDS TO LOSE IF LAWS ARE CHANGED

REGARDING KEVIN Cullen's column on marijuana's decriminalization ("Smoking,
guns," Metro, Oct. 12): As many others have attempted to do, Cullen has
tried to connect the dots between recent crimes committed in the area and
pot's decriminalization in Massachusetts. The crimes he speaks of occurred
for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being the economic hard times we
are all facing. If you buy into his argument that the evil weed was the
culprit, then, if nothing else, had marijuana been legalized, regulated,
taxed, and available, these crimes probably would not have occurred.

Follow the money and you will understand that the main reason pot is still
illegal is that too many people in the multibillion-dollar legal industry
in this country benefit from its present status. Lawyers, judges, huge
law-enforcement agencies, and for-profit prison systems nationwide stand to
lose a fortune if Draconian pot laws are altered.

Prohibition didn't work. Nor do present marijuana laws. Kill the demand
side through education and prevention, and take all the money we spend on
the arrests, prosecution, and incarceration of marijuana users and sellers,
and spend it more wisely.

Stephen M. Berniche

Harwich

The writer is a retired lieutenant in the US Coast Guard.