In response to Dan Linn, the Executive Director Illinois Chapter National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (Illinois NORML) and his small statement why it's time to legalize and tax marijuana, let me just say, maybe you are high.

It's always about the money for some of you, but what about those of us who are parents, and the most important "thing" to us is our children?

Legalize marijuana so it can be easier for the adults who are users and or dealers, who are already deciding to break the law, to sell or just pass it on to our kids or in some cases their own? This seems inevitable to me.

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DANVILLE - For several weeks, Betsy Morgenroth went back and forth over whether she would participate in Saturday's communitywide march against drugs.

By the night before, the Hoopeston woman knew what she had to do.

"I needed to be here for him," said Morgenroth, whose 18-year-old son, John Travis Morgenroth, died from an overdose of Xanax, Valium and morphine on June 13. "I'd like for something good to come out of his death. I haven't figured out yet what that's going to be. You just feel like you have to do something."

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If the Illinois lawmakers need some extra green for the budget perhaps they should consider marijuana, regulating and taxing that is.

After all, the state is spending money to arrest, prosecute and imprison this part of the population when the state could be making a significant amount of money if they simply taxed the use of marijuana.

Marijuana arrests in Illinois have been around 40,000 a year since 2000 and that is just those that get caught with marijuana; imagine how many others there are who were not arrested but would also probably prefer to buy marijuana legally and be taxed instead of illegally and risk arrest.

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When one thinks of cash crops in Illinois, marijuana is generally not a plant that comes to mind. However, marijuana is now the state's third ranked money crop.

According to a report published in the Bulletin for Cannabis Reform December 2006 by Dr. Jon Gettman, a regional economics expert and adjunct instructor at Shepard University, Illinois' marijuana crop was valued at more than $272 million.

Corn was valued at $4 billion and soybeans at $2.7 billion.

"Despite intensive eradication efforts, domestic marijuana production has increased ten fold over the last 25 years, from 2.2 million pounds in 1981 to 22 million pounds in 2006," Gettman said.

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I'm writing about Stuart R. Wahlin's story: "Citizens Aug. 8-14, 2007 asking for city involvement in curbing violence" (8/10/07).

Unfortunately, the common-sense solution to Rockford's crime problem lies in Washington, D.C.--not Rockford or any other city or town in the United States.

Since the vast majority of all of our violent crime and property crime is caused by our drug prohibition policies, the common-sense solution is to re-legalize all of our now-illegal drugs. Then, the drugs can be sold in legal, regulated and licensed business establishments for pennies per dose.

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There are two possible approaches to combating illegal drug use.

If people are willing to pay for something, then someone else will be willing to supply it almost no matter how bad, whether gambling, drugs, pornography, slavery, etc.

Imprisoning millions of illegal drug users is not practical. However, one could suspend their driver's licenses. One certainly does not want drug users driving.

If they were forced to find a new way to get to work or find a new job, they might realize the criminality of their actions and get help.

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Thank you for taking the time to do your part in helping to fight one of our society's greatest problems. The people reading this article most likely know someone dealing with addiction issues this very second.

Did you know that there are more than 23 million Americans considered to have substance abuse problems right now? Did you know that there are over 1 million people in this country receiving substance abuse treatment right now? Did you know that the United States has the highest jail/prison population in the world and that roughly 80 percent of that population is incarcerated either directly or indirectly for issues involving substance abuse?

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It was with a great amount of anger and sadness that I read Bill Smeathers' poignant letter: "Terrorism and American justice" on Sept. 1.

I felt anger and sadness because our once free country is now a police state.

When our police can and do kick in the doors, in the middle of the night, of American citizens because they suspect that the occupants are using some "unapproved" natural herb and medicine, we no longer have a free country.

Perhaps we should demand that the words "freedom" and "justice" be removed from all of our national monuments and government building. Perhaps we should send the Statue of Liberty back to France or else rename it the "Statue of Hypocrisy." The most incarcerated nation in history of human civilization does not deserve a Statue of Liberty.

A country where its adult citizens are not free to self medicate even in the privacy of their own homes, does not deserve a Statue of Liberty.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

The Journal-Standard's recent piece about some area convenience stores selling small glass tubes with roses in them which are commonly used as crack pipes smacks of actual investigative journalism - congratulations and I hope to read more stories like this one.

Those stores owners who choose not to sell items known to be thinly disguised drug paraphernalia are to be commended. The manager who were quoted giving disingenuous answers to the direct question posed by the reporter "What do you think the tubes are used for?" should be ashamed.

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The issue: Merchandise identified by police as drug paraphernalia is available at Freeport stores.

Our view: Time for community activism

Is Freeport committed to eliminating the scourge of drug abuse? Monday this newspaper published a story identifying three local stores, all in the Third Ward, selling what police consider drug paraphernalia.

Small glass tubes, often referred to as "stems," were identified by police as common tools for people who smoke crack cocaine. Also on sale, again from behind the counter, were other items used for filtering, weighing and using illicit drugs.

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According to the latest anti-marijuana public service announcement, smoking pot not only gives your dog the ability to talk, but also the power to express guilt. This phenomenon may be explained by a recent study that links marijuana use and psychosis. But does marijuana really deserve to be called "wacky tobaccy" or are the study's claims nothing but hot, smoky air?

The study, funded by the British Health Department, claims that marijuana users are 40 percent more likely to develop a serious mental disorder. Not surprisingly, most major news outlets jumped at the chance to yet again portray marijuana as the harbinger of the apocalypse.

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ERIE, Ill. -- Erie School Board has approved a contract with K-9 International of Sterling to conduct drug searches for the 2007-08 school year.

The firm will do four searches at a total cost of $1,200, and if the board wants more done, it will cost $350 per search.

In other news, Superintendent Mike Ryan told the board that all of the parts for the wind turbine are now on site and erection should begin at the end of July.

[end]

Kudos to the Tribune for highlighting a critical issue in Illinois: the disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans for drug offenses. Chicago's open-air drug markets have not decreased despite increased law-enforcement efforts, considered a "supply-side" approach to decreasing drug use. Illinois is now realizing the very high costs and unintended consequences of this approach, both social and fiscal.

We believe that Illinois' drug policies need to refocus on reducing the demand for drugs.

An effective strategy that has been proven by research to lower demand for drugs is simple: drug treatment.

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Drug Arrests Reveal Racial Gap

On Ohio Street, just north of Garfield Park, three drug dealers stood on a corner surrounded by litter, vacant lots and boarded-up houses, waiting for customers who strolled up on foot and pulled over in cars. Some passed right underneath a flashing police surveillance camera less than a block away.

Only a few weeks earlier in this same West Side neighborhood, Chicago police had shut down a bustling open-air market selling fentanyl-laced heroin, arresting more than a dozen members of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang. A patrol cop later described the bust as an example of the mushroom effect -- pull one out and several more just pop up in its place.

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More Research Needed Before Enacting Random Testing

Salem Community High School (SCHS) Superintendent Barb Smith brought a potentially controversial matter to the SCHS school board on Tuesday for board discussion and approval, regarding a policy change. Recently, the school has been reorganizing their policies according to the Illinois Association of School Boards' policies. Smith told the board when she got to policy 7.240, conduct code for participation in extra-curricular activities, she realized she should seek the sanction of the board. The policy establishes random alcohol and drug testing for all students involved in extra-curricular activities.

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The issue: A prominent local attorney says the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is a failure. One local police chief says his town has dropped the program.

We say: Research on D.A.R.E.'s effectiveness is inconclusive, but local towns should take a look at their individual programs to make sure they are having the intended results.

James Gierach, a lawyer and political activist from Oak Lawn, wrote the village board last month to complain about the village's decision to use the Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- D.A.R.E. -- insignia on this year's vehicle sticker.

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Al Gore III's mug shot appeared in newspapers across the country Thursday thanks to his arrest Wednesday on charges of possession of marijuana and prescription pills.

An Orange County sheriff's deputy pulled him over for driving his Toyota Prius at 100 mph. Police said the car smelled of marijuana and said a search found marijuana and prescription pills of Vicodin, Valium, Xanax and Adderall.

Here are five observations after Gore's arrest:

1. Don't speed if you're holding weed.

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Of the eight Democrats vying for their party's presidential nomination, I think it's fair to say former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel is the longest of the long shots.

In presidential preference polls, support for him hovers around 1 percent. When it comes to fundraising, his campaign coffers are nearly bare. So it's not surprising journalists tend to treat Gravel as a gadfly.

And that's what I thought of him late last month when I sat across from the Democratic presidential candidates on the stage of Howard University's Crampton Auditorium. I was one of the three journalists who got to question the full field of Democratic contenders during a PBS presidential forum hosted by Tavis Smiley.

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When a person is sent to prison for the first time on a drug-related felony charge, there is little chance that he or she will be told about the "collateral consequences" of their sentence.

The severity of these residual punishments depends on the state. "Life Sentences: The Collateral Sanctions Associated with Marijuana Offenses," a report released in July by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (CCLE), ranks Florida, Delaware, Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia, Utah, Arizona and South Carolina as the 10 states with the worst records for continuing the punishments of people who have already served their time.

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I'm writing about: "Lawyer wants DARE off vehicle stickers" (7-01-07).

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs -- not less.

Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system. But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. Actually, prohibition tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited.

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