No one expects the Herald to endorse the repeal of marijuana prohibition and its replacement with a legal framework in which adults may responsibly cultivate the plant and engage in commercial activities ("The fine print on marijuana," April 20). So the polemic was expected.

The Herald doubts the proposal will eliminate a black market, based upon the experience in other states. But in those cases legalization has entailed both excessive taxes and compliance costs.

The Herald also complains that there is no "pot tax" in the draft law. Its silence on that topic means that sales would be subject to the 6.25 percent sales tax (though under some circumstances it may fall within one or more of the exemptions to that tax). Suppression of the black market may require imposing a lower excise tax, perhaps, a fixed-rate tax per unit similar to Massachusetts ' current tax on alcoholic beverages, collected by producers, surprisingly among the lowest in the nation.

Marvin Cable, Northampton

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