REAL MARIJUANA PROBLEM IS BLACK MARKET

Editor:

The approach (Sooke Staff Sgt. Don) Brown and Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP
Keith) Martin endorse in this article (Legalizing Mary Jane has its
pot-roblems) would not do anything to deal with the problem of the black
market.

By keeping cannabis sales on the black market, we will not get rid of the
problems of the unregulated grow-ops. Growers would still have no legal way
to settle disputes, and they would still have to turn to violence to solve
their problems. Police would still be spending money to combat cannabis,
instead of reaping the tax benefits legal cannabis could provide. And
criminals would still have an easy income.

Why do people buy cannabis from criminals? Because the government allows no
alternative. Cannabis consumers would be happy to stop giving money to
organized crime, if the government would only let them.

Kendall M. Cox

Shorewood, Ill.

(Editor's note: The story Cox is referring to appeared in the Oct. 2 issue
of the Sooke News Mirror and was reprinted on various Internet Web sites,
including cannabisnews.com and mapinc.org.)