FORFEITURES A SUBSIDY FOR MOST POT GROWERS

Editor, The News:

Re: Forfeitures hitting criminals where it hurts (The News, Dec. 3)

Forfeitures may be hitting the criminals who get caught "where it
hurts" , but for the 95 to 98 per cent of growers who will never be
caught, this is actually a big subsidy.

The illegality of marijuana makes it lucrative. Added pressure in the
form of increased enforcement makes it even more lucrative for the
ones who never get caught, which leads me to wonder, just which side
of the law the cops are really on.

I mean, who, exactly, are the police helping with this policy?
Themselves, certainly, because every time crime goes down, they claim
they need more money and power to continue winning, and when crime
goes up, they say they need more money and power to fight it.

The producers, however, are being helped most of all.

The public, meanwhile, is being repeatedly and effectively bamboozled
by cops - and their propaganda-regurgitating friends in the media
- - into believing that the only cure for the problems caused by
prohibition is more prohibition.A

Russell Barth

Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User

Drug Reform Analyst and Consultant

Educators for Sensible Drug Policy