GROW LOCAL

Regarding your April 28 article on Illinois' restrictive medical
marijuana bill, it's true that marijuana is readily available in
California to anyone with a doctor's recommendation. Locally grown
medical marijuana generates tax revenue and, more important, takes
marijuana distribution out of the hands of organized crime. Illinois
legislators apparently prefer that Mexican drug cartels control
marijuana distribution.

The number-one product of Mexican drug cartels is marijuana. An
estimated 35,000 Mexicans have died in prohibition-related violence
over the past few years. As long as cartels control distribution,
marijuana consumers will be exposed to methamphetamine, cocaine and
heroin. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana
prohibition is deadly.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.