Pubdate: Sun, 2 Jan 2010
Source: Capital Times, The  (WI)
Copyright: 2009 The Capital Times
Contact:  http://host.madison.com/ct/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Patrick Brumm

TIME TO RE-EVALUATE THE WAR ON DRUGS

Dear Editor: With voter initiatives increasingly leading the way toward
regulated marijuana and the tax boon it represents, law enforcement
lobbyists are out in full force telling us how we just can't handle it.
Ever. Period.

More than a dozen states have passed medical pot laws and nearly as
many have decriminalized small amounts. The world keeps turning;
apocalypse averted. Cold war ideologies long defunct, it's time to
re-evaluate the toll of the also-failed drug war. The police will not
lose their jobs. Maybe the lobbyists.

Lots of new jobs are created in a state that allows medical cannabis.
Money stays local instead of heading south of the border. Denying
dangerous drug cartels their cash flow has Mexico looking at wider
decriminalization efforts. Cash flow is the Achilles heal of organized
crime.

Small farmers will team with community dispensaries to
re-purpose/re-invent themselves and avoid foreclosures. Someone will
dust off grandpa's old hemp mill to start making some fabric, while
other unique jobs are waiting to be tapped. It's a growth industry
bound to happen and we are not in a good position to allow
fear-baiting moral posturing and useless hand-wringing to deny such a
tax resource. Besides the fact it actually IS medicine too.

Patrick Brumm

Madison
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake