Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO) Copyright: 2009 The Springfield News-Leader Contact: http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1129 Author: Mark Dickey LEGALIZE MARIJUANA TO END RECESSION Win and end the war on drugs! Make drug usage a public health issue. Legalize pot, decriminalize the rest. Quit putting people in prison and by legalizing pot and decriminalizing other drugs you put the drug cartels out of business or they become legit and pay taxes, a large portion of which would go to treatment for drug and alcohol abusers. The tax revenue from users and producers would be a huge boon for the U.S. economy and we might get out of this financial crisis. This would drastically cut the prison population. Out-of-work guards, etc. could be retrained and work in the drug abuse field. One of the biggest obstacles to this approach would be the beer and liquor companies who do not want to compete with pot that we could grow in our backyards. Drug war won and recession solved! Mark Dickey Lake Ozark - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin