LEGALIZING POT IS A MUCH BETTER IDEA

What a sad commentary on our priorities to read of the Snohomish Regional
Drug Task Force cutting down the local pot harvest.

The article claimed that each plant was worth about $1,000 on the street.
Amazing! Let's do a quick cost-benefit analysis. If pot were available in
your local smoke or liquor store it would probably not be worth $1,000 a
plant, since the cost of black market goods artificially inflates the price.
So let's imagine the cost of mass-produced, controlled-climate plants at
closer to $250 a plant, so the crop that the police ruined would sell at
$62,500. Sales tax at around 8.06 percent on legitimate sales would generate
$5,375 for the state (without the inevitable "sin" tax) as well as providing
someone currently considered criminal, a legitimate job and a place in the
community.

Instead the task force spent some percentage of the $40 billion (800,000
teachers) a year taken out of our pockets. The unique growing environment in
our state could put "rainforest bud" at the same level of our incredible
connoisseur wines, as well as the non-ingestive uses of hemp rope, clothing,
acid-lignin free paper. A hemp field rotates three times a year and saves
old growth for lumber instead of toilet paper.

Why pay our precious police to run around the woods and cut down weeds? I'm
sure the real criminals of Snohomish County smiled when they read the story.

CHRISTOPHER BINGHAM,

Snohomish