GOVERNMENT'S WAR ON MARIJUANA COSTS EVERYONE

Tax On It Would Not

I'm writing about Joe Peacott's outstanding letter: "It's the prohibition
of marijuana that is harmful to ecosystem" (Aug. 22).

Our government is wasting countless billions of dollars every year
attempting to eradicate an easy-to-grow weed that at least 90 million
Americans have used. The net result is that marijuana is just as available
today as it was in the 1970s.

Instead of attempting to nullify the immutable law of supply and demand,
our government should regulate, control and tax it. We could easily tax
marijuana at the same rate as tobacco or liquor. The vast majority of
marijuana's current price is the result of the "prohibition tax," which is
now going to organized crime.

It seems to me that non-marijuana users would be very much in favor of
taxing a product that they don't use. Around here, taxing somebody else's
vice is very popular.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.