Editor:
As William F. Buckley (conservative author/commentator, Founder of the magazine National Review) once said, “Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
Currently, the state of Oregon spends $61.5 million in law enforcement, corrections, and judicial costs just on the enforcement of cannabis-related incidents.
Not only would Measure 80 eliminate most of those costs, it would generate over $140 million a year by taxing commercial cannabis sales to adults.
Personally, I’m all for giving it a try and if it doesn’t work out in, say, five years’ time, we can always remove it. Pot beats the heck out of alcohol, an extremely nasty drug my father was addicted to for 30 years. Speed is also vile.
Personally I’ve never known anyone to become violent on pot.
Ninety percent of the proceeds will go into the state general fund, 7 percent for drug treatment programs, 1 percent each for drug education in public schools, and two new state commissions to promote hemp biofuel and hemp fiber and food.
I say 20 percent should go to drug treatment programs.
Measure 80 will also restore agricultural hemp. Hemp fiber was so important to our young republic that farmers were compelled by patriotic duty to grow it, and were allowed to pay taxes with it. George Washington grew hemp and encouraged all citizens to sow hemp widely. Thomas Jefferson bred improved hemp varieties, and invented a special brake for crushing the plant’s stems during fiber processing.
Hey! our Founding Fathers can’t be wrong, right? And one of the best things about it is no herbicides or pesticides needed!
We are warned that use of marijuana before age 18 has been shown to cause lasting harm to a person’s intelligence, attention and memory, according to an international research team
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120827152039.htm
Because your brain isn’t fully formed yet. Adults, no problem. That goes for all drugs and infectious disease as well. Children infected with intestinal worms have lower IQ later in life. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-is-average-iq-higher-in-some-places
Diane Daiute
Sweet Home