WAR ON DRUGS EXACTS COSTLY TOLL FOR TAXPAYERS

Oh, pot. Mary Jane. Marijuana. It has so many names, so many fans and
creates so many problems.

On Jan. 8, three students and two others were busted and found with
over 12 pounds of marijuana. Wonder what they were doing with all of
that.

Would America be better off if marijuana were legal? It would
certainly cut down on a lot of crime. It did with alcohol. The most
infamous gangsters and mafiasos rose to power during Prohibition. Once
Prohibition was repealed, bootlegging and related crimes decreased.

With the use of pot in an anti-pot country comes a hazard-drug
dealers. Even if the drugs are only marijuana, drug dealers still tend
to obtain weapons illegally, as a form of protection. In fact, in the
Raiders Ridge case, it is interesting how more attention was devoted
to the pot than to the firearms seized. Guns are much more dangerous
than weed. If you leave 12 pounds of pot alone with an infant, nothing
too terrible can take place. But if you leave a kid alone with a
loaded firearm.

Not to say that marijuana should be legal for all to use, but one
thing's for certain: it should be used for medicinal purposes. People
in pain should not have to suffer. People in pain should have the
option to partake in a pain reliever that is less addictive than
morphine or oxycontin, for instance. How often has it been reported
that someone has overdosed solely on marijuana?

Whether or not pot is legal, there will always be those stoners who
braid hemp while watching South Park. Maybe they should go to prison,
but it's safe to say we're losing the War on Drugs.

Not only that, we're making it damned near impossible for people
convicted, even on petty drug charges, to pick up the pieces of their
lives. If they decide to go back to school in an attempt to make
something of themselves, they are not allowed to receive financial
aid. Why not allow financial aid on a probation contract, which allows
the school/government to perform random drug tests on the parties involved?

With a criminal record, even someone in narcotic recovery, clean and
sober, has a difficult time finding a job. Why burn a Scarlet Letter
onto someone for the rest of their days because they got busted at 18
with pot?