READER DISAPPOINTED OVER PROP 19 DEFEAT

California's cannabis legalization measure Proposition 19 failed to
pass, even though it had the full force of the national cannabis law
reform movement behind it - and the support of smart people on the
outside of the fray, like Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron.

Post-election analysis will no doubt point to self-interested growers
as the reason it didn't pass, since legalization would destroy the
economics of a black market that has served illicit farmers well
through the years.

The bigger picture is that cannabis law reform groups are locked in
advocacy models that emerged during the darkest period of this war on
noncommercial drug use. Their defensive initiatives - festivals to
attract like-minded folks, baby-step negotiations with lawmakers,
fact-filled books and emotional documentaries - do nothing to reach
the vast majority of Americans whose view of marijuana is still based
on last-century propaganda.

They miss the fact that the most powerful force for change - America's
struggling working class - would rise up and end this war if they saw
cannabis for what it is: an ancient, effective and non-toxic medicine
that could improve the quality of their lives and the lives of the
people they care most about.

As a tincture maker working with legal patients in New England, I have
seen the power of the extract to reveal the true medicinal nature of
cannabis to old Yankees raised on Prohibition.

Stealthy, long-lasting, non-toxic, and not smoked, tincture opens
their eyes to the wonders of this plant and to the Raw Deal of the
Industrial Age.

Carl Hedberg

Lyndeborough