Letter: Consider the benefits of legalizing pot

Monday, Oct. 14, 2002 | 9:01 a.m.

In response to Mike O'Callaghan's Oct. 4 column, "No on Q9 = common sense":

Proponents of Question 9 want to reduce the prison population that is overburdened with people who have committed a victimless crime. And in response to the remark by Sheriff Jerry Keller, how would Q9 lead to any more crime? His department, as well as the rest of the police departments across the USA, DEA included, have spent billions and have gotten nowhere. So how can it get any worse?

Waste more money fighting an economic force that can benefit us all? The proponents of Q9 say let's tax the heck out of it, use it to make paper to reduce cutting down all the trees in the forest, let our farmers, who cannot grow a crop that can keep them profitable, grow it and make a profit again, let the people who need it for their illnesses buy it legally!

No one who votes for Q9 wants to have their children smoke pot until they are old enough and educated enough to understand how it can affect them. It is time for all people in the state of Nevada to send a message to Washington, informing them that the state of Nevada and its people will no longer allow them to waste any more money and resources on a drug that is no worse than cigarettes and alcohol.

Get a clue, Mr. O'Callaghan, not everyone who votes for Q9 is a pot head.

WILL MITCHELL