U.S. MARIJUANA LAWS HAVE BEEN COSTLY FAILURES

This is in regard to Ric Llewellyn's Oct. 16 column, "Just say no to
Proposition 19." We voters, when deciding whether to vote for
Proposition 19, need to start at the indisputable fact that,
heretofore, marijuana prohibition, in its many permutations over the
decades, has been a costly, harmful and abject failure. It's true that
that criminal cartels will not go away with passage of Prop. 19, but
law enforcement will have more resources available to turn its
attention toward more egregious enterprises, i.e., transportation of
humans to become virtual slaves/prostitutes. Currently, the
incarceration of marijuana violators, a simple peccadillo, is a costly
burden for society to bear.

Personally, I would prefer marijuana be regulated at a level roughly
comparable to that of tobacco and alcohol.

Supporters of marijuana prohibition appear to believe that there's
something intrinsically evil about marijuana itself. Hemp (still
prohibited) and its derivative plant, marijuana, has been in the
service of mankind for more than 10,000 years. Very likely, Jesus'
sandals were held together by hemp.

The Prohibition of alcohol in America, sometimes referred to as the
"The Noble Experiment," turned us from being a nation of beer drinkers
to gin and whiskey users, for reasons that should be obvious. Most of
the adverse societal effects attributed to marijuana use and abuse are
caused by its prohibition rather than its use alone.

Keep up the good work; I read Mr. Llewellyn's column
regularly.

Gerald M. Sutliff

Bakersfield