POT FRAUD

Major kudos to Dan Gardner for his outstanding column, The Fraud Of
Pot Decriminalization (July 29).

I'd like to add that reducing the penalties for pot use does nothing
to get organized crime out of the marijuana business.

Only full legalization of marijuana will allow it to be sold in
licensed business establishments. Then it can be taxed, regulated and
controlled by the Canadian government.

Only then will the illegal grow houses disappear, the same way the
"bathtub gin" operations disappeared after alcohol was relegalized in
the United States in 1933.

Also, since the people who sell marijuana are also the same people who
sell much more dangerous drugs, this gateway to hard drugs will be
closed.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.