Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times Contact: http://www.latimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248 Author: Ambrose Bruce Terrence A HANDLE ON POT Re "L.A. to order all pot shops closed," July 25 A drug is being sold in our great city that results in thousands of deaths each year and is a root cause of homelessness, mental illness, lost jobs and a host of different crimes. And get this: The drug is available for purchase by anyone over 21 in restaurants and stores in nearly every neighborhood. I trust that the city will now use its overstretched resources to attack the vendors of alcohol. It won't waste its crime-fighting establishment's time on attacking pot stores and re-creating a criminal class of pot salespeople, will it? I realize we have a perfectly functioning city with high-quality education, little pollution, efficient public transportation and an abundance of parks. Still, is focusing on closing pot stores really the best use of what we have? Ambrose Bruce Terrence Marina del Rey - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom