LETTERS

Re “Cannabis conundrum: As alcohol and tobacco prove, the ultimate cost of legalizing pot is too high,” Opinion, June 7

Really?

If Kevin A. Sabet thinks that people want to try pot but haven’t done so merely because it’s illegal, he really needs to get out more.

People who want to try marijuana will do so. Legality has little bearing on it.

I have never tried pot and never will unless I need it to get through chemotherapy -- legal or not.

I hope that in 10 years, we can look back at the “war on drugs” and see it for what it is: a ridiculously archaic way of thinking.

Tally Briggs

Toluca Lake

::

One wishes The Times could find a better opinion in opposition to legalization of marijuana than Sabet’s snarky assertion that the proposal does not pass the “giggle test.”

What are the actual costs of enforcing these laws? Why does the writer assume that imprisoning pot dealers is good policy? What about the lives ruined in prison that might have been productive?

All we know for sure is that the enforcement industry to which he owes his livelihood would have to shrink.

Who needs to read The Times to get fed an unworthy rant from a guy with a credential? I think you could have found a more worthy proponent of the viewpoint.

Jeff Licht

Los Angeles

::

The writer is very unconvincing in his key arguments against legalizing marijuana. Comparing marijuana to alcohol and cigarettes, he asserts that increased use (because of legalization) would increase accidents and drive up healthcare costs.

Where is the data that show that? Certainly not comparable with the data on the lethal diseases that smoking and alcohol cause.

Second, the potential savings in court and prison costs are dismissed. To me, it is obvious that if marijuana were legalized, many traffickers would not be in prison either.

Finally, he argues that crime and violence would not go away because of the black-market value of other drugs. Although that is probably true, we know that significant crime occurs around the marijuana trade alone.

Thomas Ostwald

Santa Barbara

::

After reading the article denigrating the legalization of marijuana as “simplistic and unrealistic” by way of a masterful utilitarian argument, I’ve realized that many American freedoms are actually a drain on society.

For instance, how can we continue to allow the scourge of unregulated parenting, a clear threat to the quality of forthcoming generations? Job choice is another ridiculous freedom; isn’t it clear that individuals may make poor career choices that don’t further society’s progress?

Upon serious consideration, the individual liberty for which America has come to stand doesn’t pass the “giggle test.”

John Stanley

Los Angeles

::

It is tragic when citizens of this “free land” complacently accept the right of government to control what they can put into their own bodies, but it is intolerable when the “forbidden fruit” is, for many, a lifesaving potion such as medical marijuana.

We endured an earlier failed prohibition on alcohol, which most would now agree was costly and foolish.

We are currently being governed by numerous individuals who, admittedly or not, “experimented” with pot (but suffered no punishment for doing so).

Many of them, however, remarkably have no qualms about continuing this drug-war nonsense.

Gordon Wilson

Laguna Niguel

::

If marijuana legalization is carried out properly, the writer’s arguments become irrelevant.

A full ban on all advertising for marijuana distributors would prevent the kind of glamorization and commercialism that he rightfully worries about.

The types of deterrent programs and methods that he supports could still be employed under legalization. Regulations could be included to allow employers to restrict employees from working under the influence.

If done in concert with deterrent programs, legalization could eventually reduce consumption by making the drug less profitable for sellers and less appealing to teenagers as a rebellious, illicit activity. It would certainly take some profit away from street gangs and international cartels.

Eric Rosenfeld

Pacific Palisades