A TAXING VICE

I'm writing about the outstanding letter, "Don't force all" (July 24). I'd
like to add that prohibition not only doesn't work -- it's counterproductive.

Before marijuana was criminalized via the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the
vast majority of Americans had never even heard of marijuana. Now everybody
in the U.S. knows what marijuana is, and our government estimates that at
least 90 million Americans have used it. About half of all high school
students will use marijuana before they graduate.

It is human nature for people to desire what they are told they cannot
have, especially children. The lure of the "forbidden fruit" is very
powerful. In the Netherlands where marijuana is available to adults without
criminal sanctions, the use of marijuana and other drugs is substantially
lower than in the U.S. (See www.drugwarfacts.org).

In the Netherlands marijuana is sold by licensed businesses. In the U.S.,
marijuana is sold by criminals, who often sell other, much more dangerous
drugs and who often offer free samples of the more dangerous drugs to their
marijuana customers. Thus, the gateway effect.

Legalize, regulate and tax the sale of marijuana and we will close the
gateway. Speaking of taxes, it seems to me that non-marijuana users would
be in favor of taxing a product that they don't use. Around these parts,
taxing someone else's vice is very popular.

Kirk Muse Mesa, Az.