Marijuana Policy Project

I read with interest at story in the July 29 Times-News by Keren Rivas, Dozens of marijuana plants found in county.

Unless you are in complete denial, the 1937 Congressional Record tells us America prohibited pot without any real scientific testimony, no medical expertise and a media campaign based on bigotry three generations ago. Meanwhile, science finds all over again a host of medical conditions that marijuana treats effectively and every objective review of the past century finds it less harmful than tobacco or alcohol products.

Unless we tax and regulate marijuana there will be crops in the wild each year and clandestine indoor grows operating year round without regard for any law.

A regulated marijuana marketplace keeps this drug from our children as the Dutch and Portuguese experiments report sans U.S. government propaganda. What we have today is little more than a cops and robbers game with no clear results and much grandstanding by those who do not really understand this issue.

In the time it took to write this letter, about half a dozen Americans were arrested for marijuana offenses, usually simple possession, resulting in little more than a drain on the taxpayer with certainly no end in sight.