WAR PROFITEERING

Re: David Rolland's excellent "It's warfare" ["The Frontlines," Dec.
14]. Assistant Police Chief Cheryl Meyers correctly asserts that some
medical marijuana dispensaries are "jacking up the prices" of
cannabis. Perhaps she would be interested to learn the U.S.
Government is able to cultivate medical marijuana for its
Investigational New Drug program for a mere 90 cents per ounce,
including security, processing and administrative costs. That same
ounce could be sold on the black market for $300 to $500, depending
on the strain and region of sale. In other words, prohibition
policies have undermined any meaningful effort to regulate the
product, while making it worth its weight in gold.

The drug war has given us the worst of both worlds. Criminals and
politicians get rich while police and patients die, not over drugs,
but the enormous profits created by prohibition.

Christopher Largen, Denton, Texas