Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM) Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal Contact: http://www.abqjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10 Author: Victoria Sadoff NM COULD PROFIT FROM POT I APPLAUD SEN. Ortiz y Pino in stepping up to legalize recreational marijuana! New Mexico needs to be one of the first and not the last to realize the war on drugs is futile! The governor's stance on being against it because of her dislike for illegal drug use is bogus. The No. 1 drug pushers are doctors and their legally prescribed narcotics. I do not understand how our governor, nor any other government official, can't wrap their heads around the idea that making non-lethal drugs illegal only supports crime and violence. How many more people have to die for them to see the war on drugs is a huge failure? Did they learn nothing from our history with the prohibition of alcohol? As long as our government keeps marijuana illegal, they will enforce the black market's ability to highly profit from it, continue the senseless killing and the many lives destroyed by people being put in jail and unable to obtain employment because of pot use. Now let's discuss how we are missing out on a huge amount of revenue we could use for our schools. We are last among the states in education. Imagine how we could help out our pathetic school system, among other things, with the taxes we could collect from the sales of marijuana! The amount of jobs it would create is also a plus - retail, contracting jobs, and electrical to run the dispensaries that sell and grow. The tourism department would gain big time. Legalizing marijuana is a huge asset for New Mexico to pull itself out of a recession. For those that say pot smoking leads to harder drugs - not any more than alcohol does. Hopefully, Sen. Ortiz y Pino can lead New Mexico into a smarter, more profitable future! I don't know about everyone else, but I'm tired of hearing New Mexico is last in the economic recovery! I'm also extremely tired of government telling me what's bad for me. VICTORIA SADOFF Rio Rancho - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom