Letter to the Editor: Stop the War on Pot

Dear family, friends and neighbors,

Here is one very good argument (alternet.org/drugreporter/137752/pot_vs._booze ) to support marijuana legalization and control, well delivered by our neighbor Norm Stamper, former Seattle Police Chief. But in my mind it is not the only argument and maybe not even the best.

We should stop the war on pot so our agricultural community can once again grow one of the finest commercial fibers available and not have to import every bit of hemp we want to buy. Of course it would be possible to legalize hemp without legalizing marijuana. It wouldn’t even require congressional action. But, the drug war supporters contend, it would vastly complicate enforcement of the prohibition against growing pot. So let’s stop the war on pot and, if we must, use the same regulatory structure that regulates tobacco and alcohol to regulate pot.

By the way, either hemp or pot is a much more efficient feedstock than corn for producing alcohol as automotive fuel. I’ll bet that is something that both the corn lobby and the oil companies don’t want you to know.

I urge you to press you congressional representatives and the President on this issue.

Bill Griswold