REVIVE POT RECOMMENDATION

The Dec. 7 letter headlined "Tobacco a bigger danger than pot" makes
great sense in urging an end to marijuana prohibition.

An America where marijuana possession and distribution for personal
use was legal was actually envisioned 35 years ago in a report by a
Republican former Pennsylvania governor, Raymond Shafer, appointed by
no less than President Nixon to head his National Commission on
Marijuana and Drug Abuse. In 1972, the Shafer Commission recommended
to Nixon and Congress that the "possession of marijuana for personal
use no longer be an offense, (and that the) casual distribution of
small amounts of marijuana for no remuneration, or insignificant
remuneration no longer be an offense."

Although our leaders have yet to heed the Shafer Commission's
sensible recommendations, it's never too late to turn around and
begin regulating marijuana like we have long done with alcohol and tobacco.

A system of regulated sales would create a new tax revenue stream
that could help fund needed programs while eliminating expenditures
in law enforcement, the courts and the prison-probation system. It
would also create an entirely new legal industry with untold
potential for job creation and economic development.

In these days of economic uncertainty, unending war and global
warming, the lifting of marijuana prohibition would likely produce a
collective uplifting of our bruised and battered national spirit
unseen since the repeal of alcohol prohibition in 1933. Removing
criminal penalties would also allow the medical use of cannabis to
reach its full potential, reducing health care costs. Millions of
otherwise law-abiding Americans are already using marijuana today.
It's time to admit marijuana prohibition has only made things worse,
and bring America's and Wisconsin's biggest cash crop above ground.

GARY STORCK

Director, Madison Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws

Madison