Pubdate: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 Source: DrugSense Blog Website: http://drugsense.org/blog/ LETTER OF THE WEEK MEXICAN KILLINGS: LEGALIZE DRUGS In Thursday's Voice of the People ["Drug Users, Cartel Killings"], Lakeland resident Frances Clark wrote, "Innocent people are dying by the thousands in Mexico because of the drug cartels, and we must ask why." The why is money. Illegal drugs make money for gangs and cartels because they are illegal. Marijuana ( hemp ) represents 60 percent of the money earned by Mexican drug cartels. Members of said cartels are already upset by California's legalization of marijuana for medical purposes because it is cutting into their profits. States should "think about the innocent people who are dying each day by these murderers in order to get their 'product' across our borders," Clark wrote. That is because the drug cartels have no incentive to smuggle legal drugs. Alcohol prohibition created the economic base for Al Capone and his like to control citizens, politicians and police. The war on drugs has created the same environment. It's past time to end the War on Drugs. In our economic climate, it's time to legalize and tax them. Glenn Festog Lakeland Pubdate: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 Source: Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL) Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n000/a038.html - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake