Pubdate: Tue, 09 Oct 2012
Source: Kitsap Sun (WA)
Copyright: 2012 Kitsap Sun
Contact: http://web.kitsapsun.com/scripts/letters.html
Website: http://www.kitsapsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4404
Author: John McKay
Note: John McKay served as the United States Attorney for Western 
Washington from 2001 to 2007 and is currently a law professor at 
Seattle University.

EXISTING MARIJUANA LAWS ARE A COSTLY FAILURE

As the previous U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, 
part of my job was to enforce our nation's prohibition on marijuana. 
I carried out my sworn duty without hesitation. But I saw then, and 
can say now, that marijuana prohibition has been a miserable failure.

Despite the fact that we arrest more marijuana users now than ever 
before, usage has not gone down. Nor have we had any impact on 
marijuana's availability. In fact, marijuana is cheaper and more 
available now than it was 20 years ago. And all the profits are 
funneled to criminal organizations.

It's time for a reality check - our current marijuana laws are not 
working for us, they're working against us. It is time for a new 
approach. That's why I'm asking you to vote yes on I-502 on November 6.

I'm not advocating the use of marijuana, I'm advocating we stop 
treating marijuana use as a crime. We should instead tax marijuana 
and invest revenues in prevention, education, and health care. These 
are more cost-effective strategies that have the added benefit of 
freeing up law enforcement resources for serious crime.

We need to take control of the supply of marijuana. Millions of 
Americans use marijuana despite its illegality, just as millions of 
Americans used alcohol during Prohibition. The economic impacts are 
predictable - marijuana's value as a black market commodity is 10 
times what it would be as a legal, regulated product, and billions of 
dollars flow, untaxed, into the hands of violent criminal 
organizations every year. The fights to control these artificially 
inflated profits have contributed to the deaths of more than 55,000 
men, women, and children in Mexico, and gang murders in British Columbia.

The danger is here in Washington, too. A double homicide in Everett 
was linked to a Canadian crime ring growing thousands of plants in 
several Western Washington residences. Last October, 300 law 
enforcement agents raided multiple Clark County homes that had been 
turned into indoor grow operations netting tens of millions of 
dollars a year. Hundreds of thousands of plants have been confiscated 
from Ross Lake National Recreation Area; the Yakama, Colville, 
Spokane and Quinault reservations; and the vineyards of Yakima Valley.

It's time to cut off the flow of marijuana profits to criminals and 
bring this multi-billion-dollar market under regulatory control. 
Initiative 502 is a careful, responsible step in the right direction. 
Please vote yes on I-502.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom