LEGALIZE MARIJUANA TO IMPROVE SOCIETY

With our Hawaiian economy ailing because of decades of tourist industry
reliance, our leaders -- within reason -- must be willing to take some
revolutionary action. If the alternative -- dedication to the status quo --
is chosen, a pivotal turning point shall be forsaken. The time has come for
the legalization of marijuana.

I believe that all people in Hawaii are themselves present or former pot
smokers, or have relatives or friends, or relatives of friends, who
responsibly get high. Americans realize that the prohibition of alcohol did
not work; it just made gangsters rich and otherwise law-abiding citizens
criminal. So, too, with the prohibition of pakalolo.

Marijuana is not a stepping stone to dangerous drugs like ice; people who
end up addicted to crystal meth would have ended up that way regardless of
marijuana use. If marijuana were treated similarly to alcohol, our society
would be better off.

Stuart N. Taba