Pubdate: Mon, 15 Jun 2015
Source: Concord Monitor (NH)
Copyright: 2015 Monitor Publishing Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/WbpFSdHB
Website: http://www.concordmonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/767
Author: Michael Schneider

LOOK AT COLORADO BEFORE MAKING POT LEGAL

Seriously, the best reason Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters can 
give for legalizing marijuana is that the bad guys are making all the 
money? ("Legal pot is going to happen, Deters says" June 12). I guess 
we should thank him for being honest. It's obvious this is all about the money.

Maybe Deters should check what's happening out in Colorado. According 
to Forbes magazine: "Using data from the federal government's 
Fatality Analysis Reporting System, pharmacologist Stacy 
Salomonsen-Sautel and her co-authors found that the proportion of 
fatal crashes involving "marijuana-positive drivers was 4.5 percent 
in the first six months of 1994, 5.9 percent in the first six months 
of 2009, and 10 percent at the end of 2011. The upward trend 
accelerated after Colorado regulators rejected restrictions on 
medical marijuana in July 2009, and there was no similar increase in 
the 34 states that at the time did not have medical marijuana laws. 
Meanwhile, the proportion of fatal accidents in which drivers tested 
positive for alcohol remained about the same."

But to Deters it seems to be all about getting his cut of the money. 
Prostitution is legal in Nevada. Why shouldn't the state get into 
that business?

Michael Schneider, Anderson Township
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom