Regarding your editorial ("A faltering bid to legalize marijuana"), no matter how clever one can write, cannabis not a gateway drug, and that's according to drug rehabilitation experts and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The war on drugs is not merely a boondoggle, it's a failed policy leading to over 750,000 arrests in this country each year for smoking a little harmless weed. U.S. cannabis revenues topped $110 billion last year, making it the largest cash crop in the country. In a nation that values markets and democracy equally, it seems hypocritical to outlaw something most Americans have voted for with their pocketbooks and wallets. John Thomas Ellis, Kentfield, Cal. Mr. Ellis is a columnist and media critic for The West Coast Leaf. [end]
Re "State gets two years to cut 43,000 from prisons," Aug. 5 Now maybe this court order will free those convicted of nonviolent cannabis charges. Until today, these people have been rotting in prison for crimes most Californians have committed themselves. Let these people go. It's time to turn these folks into tax-paying citizens. John Thomas Ellis Kentfield, Calif. [end]
