IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE USE OF MARIJUANA

This is in response to "Mrs. Taft condemns proposal on drugs" and "Experts
say drug effort's focus should be prevention" on Aug. 2.

Isn't it time for a change in a day and age when 34 percent of voters
support marijuana legalization (according to a USA Today/Gallup poll
conducted in August, 2001), when marijuana is found in Toledo's prison
(according to a July 9, article), when complete legalization of marijuana
is on the November ballot in Nevada, and has already been on the ballot in
Alaska, when prisons are taking budget cuts and forcing inmates to sleep in
recreation rooms, when the FBI transfers 400 agents from the narcotics
division and over to the terrorism department, and, finally, in a day and
age when countries like Canada, Jamaica, and practically all of Europe have
and/or are making marijuana decriminalization initiatives?

Maybe we should start to question the system in place instead of rejecting
all initiatives that might prove to be more successful.

SEAN ELLIOT

Robinwood Avenue