LEGALIZE IT!

Re "Dirty business" (Cover feature, by Howard Hardee, Sept. 22):

While I applaud the efforts of Det. Doug Patterson and his colleagues
in their efforts to rid our public lands of the horrible cartel
growers, cannabis still needs to be legalized. We have to stop
locking people up and ruining their lives over a plant that is safer
to consume than beer, cigarettes or Tylenol.

Patterson is conveniently not thinking through the issue of
legalization. When marijuana prohibition finally ends in California,
we can simply outlaw gardens on public lands. Patterson and his crew
would still be hard at work "weeding out" the cartel grows.

At the same time, the rest of us would enjoy the same freedom that
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington enjoyed and took advantage
of-the legal right to grow and use hemp. The more legal, above-board
growers we have supplying the market, the less demand there will be
for cartel-grown cannabis. Eventually Patterson and his colleagues
will be able to focus their efforts on such things as meth labs,
cocaine traffickers, rapists, murderers and thieves.

How refreshing it would be to see law enforcement actually working or
real crime, rather than focusing on what people are smoking or
eating. It always amazes me how stupid an otherwise intelligent
public official can get when confronted with the issue of marijuana.
It's like their brains shut off and no amount of logic or reasoning
can turn them back on.

Kenneth Williams

Yuba City