TAX AND REGULATE CANNABIS

Science tells us cannabis is safer than over-the-counter drugs. It was
endorsed by the AMA in 1937 and just last year the AMA called for the
rescheduling of cannabis.

The 1999 federally funded Institute of Medicine Report debunked the
so-called "gateway effect." Marijuana has been legal for years in
Alaska with no apparent ill-effect on the populace. Cannabis is legal
in Portugal and Spain and essentially legal in the Netherlands, with
no adverse effects there. Data from the Netherlands reveals only 13
percent of high school kids use marijuana compared to 19 percent in
the U.S.

In this day and age, we need to rely on science not hysteria. Let's
have better control of cannabis by taxing and regulating it. As
retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray, a Gov. George
Deukmejian appointee, has written the drug war has failed.

We should be treating those with substance abuse problems and ignoring
those who merely engage in use of cannabis.

I commend ex-Sutter County Deputy Sheriff Nate Bradley for his support
of Prop. 19.

David Bearman, M.D.

Goleta