LEGAL REGULATION IS THE ANSWER

The problem of violence and environmental damage associated with
clandestine marijuana cultivation is real ("Illegal agriculture," Oct. 9).
The solution is simple, but one that law enforcement agencies and elected
officials refuse to even consider.

When was the last time you saw a clandestine vineyard guarded by criminals
with guns? Or fields of hops hidden inside a national park and surrounded
by booby traps? Never, because wine and beer are produced within a
regulated system. Regulation gives society control. Prohibition surrenders
control and increases crime and violence. That's what happened with alcohol
prohibition in the 1920s, and that ugly history is repeating with marijuana
prohibition.

Marijuana "eradication" efforts only worsen the problem. A new study by
David W. Rasmussen and Bruce L. Benson, published in the "Florida State
University Law Review," cites numerous examples of such efforts leading to
new, better-concealed, and more widely dispersed production activities. "A
long history of drug enforcement efforts suggests that elimination of
supplies coming from one area will soon lead to increased cultivation
els3ewhere," Rasmussen and Benson write.

One thing marijuana eradication efforts have not done is reduce the
marijuana supply on the street. The National Research Council, in a 2001
report commissioned by the drug czar's office, found evidence of success in
supply reduction programs "largely nonexistent."

The problem is prohibition. The solution is a thoughtful policy of legal
regulation.

Bruce Mirken, director of communications, Marijuana Policy Project, San
Francisco