Norm Jackson’s commentary about the consequences of legalizing marijuana (“Legalizing marijuana makes no sense,” June 17) is exceptionally well presented and illustrates the obvious illogic in any contemplation of the use of drugs. Make anything (gas, alcohol, soda, cigarettes … ) easily available and the public will easily abuse it; create difficulties and use will decrease. It’s a simple law of human nature.
Most (but not all) of the books about Prohibition were written with a preconceived bias, a flawed premise, and therefore contain false conclusions. The facts are not false: Domestic violence decreased, jails emptied, child abuse decreased.
A sheriff’s deputy in Orange County who works in the courts estimated (conservatively) that more than 90 percent of the cases coming through the court system are due to alcohol abuse. We need to ban alcohol, not legalize marijuana.
This article appears in Aug 12-19, 2010.