DECRIMINALIZATION WOULD BOOST DEMAND FOR POT

The Maui News online poll asked: "Should marijuana be legalized in
Hawaii in a manner similar to alcohol - taxed and barred for
possession by anyone under 21?"

Anyone who thinks decriminalization is the way to go with marijuana
needs reminding that an alcohol prohibition worked the same way as a
"decriminalization policy." Namely, users get light penalties while
dealers go to jail for felony time.

When Eliot Ness raided a speakeasy, the customers went home while the
operators went to jail. Decriminalization enabled Al Capone, Lucky
Luciano and their ilk to violently control the outlaw booze market
for more than a decade.

Eliot Ness and the prohibition agents never put the bootleggers out
of business - the repeal of prohibition and a regulated market for
adult alcohol ended the heyday of the booze barons in short order,
and we haven't had a bombing or a shootout over a beer route since 1933.

Ralph Givens

Daly City, Calif.