MARIJUANA: LEGALIZE IT TO END PROBLEMS

Beneficiaries of continued prohibition? Police, FBI, dealers, growers,
gangs.

Beneficiaries of legalization? Everyone but the above.

Your article makes it perfectly obvious that the only real answer to
the chaos you so accurately describe is full legalization. How ironic,
then, that the only folks you speak to are those who have a major
stake in the continuation of the status quo.

You seem surprised that medical marijuana is a sham that's been used
as a cover for illicit drug sales. Duh! That was the point of the
whole medical marijuana thing in the first place! The answer isn't to
scrap medical marijuana in favor of prohibition. The only answer that
makes any sense is full legalization.

But that won't happen as long as police forces of all kinds remain
addicted to the revenues they get from drug enforcement, and as long
as dealers remain addicted to the outsize profits that only
prohibition can provide.

Those of us who suffer daily from the increased crime and violence
that result directly from prohibition have no effective say in the
matter.

Mitch Shults

Southeast Portland