Pubdate: Thu, 30 Apr 2009
Source: Guardian (Wright State U, OH Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian
Contact: http://www.theguardianonline.com/2.9150
Website: http://www.theguardianonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4586
Author: John Frazier
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n427/a06.html

RESPONSE TO LEGALIZING MARIJUANA: LEGALIZATION A LOGICAL CHOICE TO HELP ECONOMY

Upon reading the article "Finance the bailout: Legalize Weed" I found 
that I very much agree with everything said. Our country could do a 
plethora of things with 6.2 billion dollars, not to mention how many 
things we could also do with the money that would be saved by cutting 
down on the cost of law enforcement, persecution, etc.

Anyone who would argue 6.2 billion dollars not helping our government 
is misguided, how would it not? Along with that, if they opened up 
special factories/warehouses for the production and distribution of 
marijuana, a myriad of jobs would become available. I also read a 
comment on a response that I completely agree with,  stating that 
they would rather legalize it and require an ID to purchase it rather 
than having kids risk their lives by going to street corners and 
buying marijuana off of shady drug dealers. One could argue that this 
situation could be avoided if they just did not buy and/or do drugs, 
and this is a noteworthy point, but one must consider that kids will 
be kids and some people just do not know any better.

Lastly, I am not saying we should legalize marijuana so everybody can 
pass joints around in between classes. With our nation in its current 
state, something needs to be done to stabilize the economy. Our 
economy is in a downward spiral and people can address the issues, 
but nobody can figure out a way to solve them. Legalizing marijuana 
seems to be a logical choice. While weed legalization would not cause 
the economy to bounce back completely, it would help.

John Frazier
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom