LET'S TALK ABOUT LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Perhaps the time has come for the government to consider legalizing
marijuana and treating its use and sale the same as alcoholic
beverages. I have never used it or knowingly been around anybody
smoking it, but it appears that almost anyone who has a desire to use
it could buy some. The billions of dollars a year in largely illegal
sales - medical marijuana is legally sold in some states - are going
directly to drug cartels and criminals.

Several states control the sale of alcoholic beverages by allowing
those beverages to be sold only through state owned and operated
stores. This could be done with marijuana, and the state would then
become the beneficiary of any profit and taxes received.

Laws would have to be enacted similar to those pertaining to alcoholic
beverages, such as, no sales to minors.

Legalizing marijuana and permitting only legal sales through state-run
retail facilities would have one major impact, and that would be to
fight the real problem - the widespread use of illegal, addictive
narcotics. The profits and taxes received at these retail stores could
be used to fight the real war on drugs, primarily to fund
rehabilitation facilities to help alleviate this country's apparent
insatiable demand for these illegal products.

One does not have to be an economist to understand that the abundance
of illegal narcotics is a result of the demand, and until that demand
is reduced, the problem will only get worse.

Of course, reducing the demand for illegal drugs is only part of the
solution. Increasing law-enforcement personnel, enacting stiffer
penalties for drug dealers, assuring that time served would be in a
no-frills penitentiary, executing so-called drug kingpins, offering
more work-force screenings and increasing drug education in the school
system all could benefit from these funds.

My point is not to be an advocate for the legalization of marijuana,
as no reasonable person should take a position on it until all the
facts have been presented. Rather, I want to raise the issue that
there has to be a way to stem the enormous amount of money that is
being funneled to illegal operations and divert it to where it could
do some good.

Maybe that old saying, "Fight fire with fire," would be appropriate if
the money received from the sale of marijuana could be used to fight
the big fire, which is crime and narcotics. I would hope that sometime
in the near future, debates will be aired, public input will be
received and hearings will be held to evaluate the pros and cons of
legalization.

Herb Hardin lives in Maitland.