Off the streets and into liquor stores
The legislature currently is considering a bill to regulate marijuana [“Time to let pot trade bud legally,” NWWednesday, Jan. 13], allowing it to be sold in state liquor stores, and there is now a state initiative petition seeking to put before the voters a law that would allow possession, growing and sale of marijuana. Who would have thought this possible three or four years ago?
Sanity should prevail as we consider how to transform the state’s drug policies. We don’t want marijuana sold on the streets, with no controls on the age of the buyer.
We need a reasonable distribution system that includes a tax covering the cost of the regulation and providing funds for drug-abuse treatment. We want responsible people handling the distribution, so that drugs are not adulterated or sold to minors — and so that all proper taxes are paid. Organized gangs would lose the tax-free stream of revenue that has fueled their growth for decades. Police could focus on more serious matters.
The time for change has come, but let’s do it responsibly.
— Jim A. Doherty, former prosecutor and corrections officer, Shoreline
Financially responsible thing to do
With the financial condition of this state and this country spiraling lower and lower, we can no longer afford the luxury of enforcing morality with the law. Our law enforcement and courts are overburdened and our prisons are overcrowded.
Legalization of marijuana will save money and allow law enforcement to use their resources where they are more urgently needed. Correction facilities would have more space for real criminals. Taxing the nonmedical use of marijuana could also help put a dent in the budget shortfall.
Legalization of marijuana would also eliminate the criminal element. Without the threat of arrest, marijuana distribution would be on par with alcohol and tobacco sales. The outrageous profits made by criminal gangs selling marijuana will dry up, causing the gangs to abandon marijuana for substances with a higher profit margin.
— Neil Foster, Renton