CRIMINALS BENEFIT FROM CANNABIS LAW

I write with regard to your article "Has time come to make cannabis
legal?" (The Argus, March 8).

It seems to me the question should be: should cannabis remain
completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminals?

Only legal products of any kind can be regulated, taxed and controlled
by any government agency.

I've never seen heroin, cocaine or meth amphetamine, yet I was offered
free samples of these and other illegal drugs when I was a cannabis
user, which was more than 15 years ago.

Because cannabis is illegal, it is sold only by criminals who often
sell other, much more dangerous drugs, such as cocaine and meth
amphetamine.

And they often offer free samples of the more dangerous drugs to their
cannabis customers, thus creating the so-called gateway effect.

In a regulated market, this would not happen. Do readers know of
anyone who has been offered a free bottle of whiskey, rum, or vodka
when legally buying beer or wine?

If you regulate, control and tax the sale and production of cannabis,
you close the gateway to hard drugs.

Kirk Muse,

Arizona, USA