Pubdate: Mon, 02 May 2016
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2016 Star Tribune
Contact:  http://www.startribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Dan Watts

SHOW ME, USING DATA AND FACTS, WHY IT CAN'T BE LEGAL HERE

I'd like to point out some inaccuracies in the April 23 article 
"Marijuana wax is a rising concern." In the states that have 
legalized marijuana, what we haven't seen is an increase in crime. We 
haven't seen an increase in death. We haven't seen any real social 
problems in these states that stem from legalized marijuana.

At the end of the article, Brian Marquardt, statewide gang and drug 
coordinator for the Department of Public Safety's Office of Justice 
Programs, states that making marijuana wax is as deadly as smoking 
it. This is a false statement. While it is true that people can die 
from explosions from making the wax as mentioned in your article, I 
don't know of anyone who has ever died directly from ingesting 
marijuana in any form. It's physically impossible to take as much as 
you would need to overdose.

How are people supposed to make good voting decisions about serious 
subjects when law enforcement officers spread false propaganda? Why 
lie about this kind of thing when we have state-sized laboratories 
that we can look to in order to see whether legalizing marijuana is a 
good or a bad idea?

Obviously, there is very little detriment and a lot of benefit - not 
only for the state in terms of tax dollars, but in terms of people's 
lives when they don't have to go to jail for petty marijuana offenses.

Show me, using data and facts, why marijuana can't be legal here. The 
demonization of marijuana didn't work, so people are now demonizing 
derivatives of marijuana. Why are Minnesotans so much different from 
the people who live in the legalized states? What is behind this 
adherence to antiquated laws that never made sense in the first place?

DAN WATTS, Northfield
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom