Pubdate: Fri, 08 May 2009 Source: Telegraph, The (Nashua, NH) Copyright: 2009 Telegraph Publishing Company Contact: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/885 Author: Russ A. Johnson MANY BENEFITS TO LEGALIZING MARIJUANA Ask any teenager what is easier to get, marijuana or alcohol. They will tell you marijuana. This is because there are not drug dealers selling alcohol on street corners. Why run the risk when a nice profit can be made legally selling to adults? Making marijuana legal would better protect our children by making it harder for them to get. Growing marijuana in the USA would reduce or eliminate the need to bring it in from Mexico. This would reduce the drug violence there and take money away from the drug lords. Selling marijuana out of the state-run liquor stores keeps you having to buy it from drug dealers who might try to up sell you on something else over time. It would also take away marijuana as a product line they could sell. This would put a lot of them out of business, reducing the number of drug dealers to the ones selling the serious stuff. Reduced numbers would make it easier for the police. I would think most drug dealers who sell the hard stuff started by selling marijuana. Removing marijuana as a starting point/training ground for being a drug dealer could reduce the number of people who wind up in that business. I see no downside and tremendous upside to legalizing marijuana. Russ A. Johnson Nashua - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom