To the editor:

My name is not important; I'm just an average Joe who wants to have his voice heard and taken seriously about something I, and many other people feel very strongly about. My only request is that you take this letter seriously, reading it all the way through.

I call for you to support the legalization of hemp, medicinal, and also non-medicinal cannabis. Allow me to state why I believe that in the event such things would happen, why I think it would make Minnesota, the United States of America, and the world a better place.

In the 1930s a movie called "Reefer Madness" was made, depicting cannabis smokers as monstrous and/or lazy, unproductive people that were detrimental to society. I'd like to point out that some of the nation still believes users of cannabis to be such things. This movie was racist, depicting African Americans who smoked cannabis to be the source of the problem. We live in the 21st century; we need to lose these unjustifiable thought forms of the 20th century.

If you want to use the excuse that cannabis use causes an unproductive and lazy society realize this; many notable, and successful, figures in the world have smoked it, including the multi-gold medalist Michael Phelps, our current president Barack Obama, John Lennon and all of The Beatles, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Bob Dylan. I could go on and on. These people were far from detrimental to society. Some helped define a generation, while some helped establish a nation, if anything they helped society thrive by giving their inspiration to others. It just so happens that they also used cannabis.

You could be afraid to support it because you may think that more people would start driving under the influence of cannabis. You also would know that it would be hard to test for. Allow me to say that there is tens of millions of cannabis users right here in America and I have never heard of someone being pulled over for being under the influence of cannabis alone, or any crashes associated with a driver who was under the influence of cannabis alone. Alcohol is far worse and it's legal.

Cannabis legalization would not increase the amount of accidents caused by being impaired while driving, and in the event a cannabis smoker would be pulled over and given a field sobriety test, I guarantee they would pass.

By NOT supporting the legalization of cannabis you are quietly and inadvertently supporting gang violence and drug cartels. Gangs and organized crime use cannabis, as well as other illegal drugs, as a form of illegal income to fund their violence, causing death and destruction across the world. All you need do is look across the U.S. border to Mexico to see the madness happening in real-time. If cannabis was legal it would help immensely to reduce this crime-wave.

Cartels and gangs would lose the income they have from the illegal cannabis trade if it was legally made available to be bought just like Alcohol and Tobacco. When I watch and read the news I see the death and destruction the failed "war on drugs" is causing, and I feel sick to the stomach knowing that it could be prevented.

If cannabis was made legal it could be taxed and regulated, generating a substantial amount of income for the state, and nation.

In these times of recession it would help the U.S. and its people get back on their feet. It would also create jobs in the agriculture and cultivation business of cannabis and Hemp. In our own great nation of America we are seeing the population of homeless people growing at an increasing rate. Tent cities are popping up out of nowhere in some of our biggest cities. These people would take any job they could get, including cultivation of Hemp and cannabis.

A large portion of the U.S. prison population is doing time for simple possession of cannabis or paraphernalia. Possession itself is a non-violent, victimless crime, which in some circumstances gives jail sentences longer than that of rapists, sex offenders, and drunks that commit vehicular manslaughter. Most of the people who smoke cannabis are simple average folk who use it to relax, and enjoy things like music, food, and other entertainment more and they're getting longer sentences than those who commit unforgivable and violent crimes against another human. It doesn't make sense throwing these honest Americans in prisons. The immoral laws against cannabis violate those who are just trying to live a happy, enjoyable life.

While I'm on the prison subject, I'd also like to point out that some prisons are being over-populated to the point they have to expand outside the walls of the facility, housing inmates within tents inside the razor wire fences. Also with the overpopulation of prisons the prospect of building more facilities, with taxpayer money, has been brought up. I do NOT want my money being used to house non-violent offenders such as cannabis smokers. It's a complete waste of taxpayer money and helps increase the national debt even further.

The billions of dollars spent on enforcing the failed "war against drugs" could have gone to funding things such as alternative clean energy, or education, or something that actually makes a difference in the lives of Americans for the better.

Prohibition of alcohol failed, and so will the prohibition of cannabis and other drugs. When the prohibition of alcohol was enacted it created the "Al Capone" type gangsters, rum runners, and moonshiners, just like today's prohibition of cannabis has created and helped sustain underground drug cartels, gangs, and the violence that comes with them. People are always going to find a way to get what they want, and should be free to put whatever they want into their body, so just give them what they want and regulate it. Instead of the violent syndicates getting the money the state would get the tax dollar from it and put it to much better use. END THE HYPOCRISY, it's common sense. The violent syndicates want it to stay illegal so they can profit from it, and as I stated previously, "By NOT supporting the legalization of cannabis you are quietly and inadvertently supporting gang violence and drug cartels."

Let me continue by asking a question. Why is hemp, a plant that can't even be smoked for recreational purposes, illegal? It's one of the world's most versatile, if not the most versatile plants on the earth. Its extremely durable fibers can be made into countless, high-quality, things including textiles, paper, rope, plastics, bio-fuel, and even glass. But because cannabis is illegal we, the United States, can't even grow this for our own use. Hemp used to be legal, and at one point in our nation's history refusing to grow it was against the law. Hemp could be used to bring in much needed income to our nation; if it was legal during the great depression it would have then helped the economy.

An anti-legalization argument I hear often is that cannabis is the cause of cancer, when, in fact, there has been no credible studies done proving it actually causes cancer. Tobacco is 100 percent proven to cause cancer and that's completely legal to 18 year olds. If you can't see what's wrong there, I feel sorry for you. I don't know if you're aware, but, let me give you a refresher. California actually uses medicinal cannabis to help people who suffer from cancer, along with a list other ailments. Without medicinal cannabis these people would be suffering with tremendous pain, no one deserves to suffer like that. We don't even subject our death row inmates to as much pain as some cancer patients put up with on a daily basis. Again, if that doesn't click in your head, I feel really sorry for you.

Some people also use the "gateway drug" excuse. Who's to say that cannabis is a gateway drug at all? Tobacco and alcohol could just as easily be considered a gateway drug, but they are 100 percent legal. Just because someone smokes cannabis recreationally doesn't automatically mean they're going to go out and shoot heroin, or smoke meth. The gateway excuse is a faulty, unjustifiable argument, in fact being illegal increases the chance someone is going to try harder drugs.

Since its illegal people have to buy cannabis from underground dealers, some of which try to push harder drugs onto their customers so they can make even more money.

We are in the information age; people can get on the Internet and educate themselves about topics, otherwise not taught in school. News is instant on the Internet, within hours, sometimes minutes; news is projected on the Internet for people to read. As of recent there has been a large boom of media coverage on the use of cannabis, both on TV, and Internet, and its growing every day. It's only a matter of time before more people come to realize the war on drugs is an utter and complete failure. Do your part and help change the state, nation, and world for the better.

On a final note, I ask that you visit these Web sites below and browse them in their entirety or until you get the point of it. Realize the truth, before the people who realize it before you get angry, and see the anti-legalization forces in our nation for the frauds they are.

These immoral laws have ruined hundreds of thousands, if not millions of normal average Joe's and Jane's lives, just for smoking and possessing, what is in reality, a harmless plant.

www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3381

www.copssaylegalizedrugs.com/

And also please, take time to view this documentary.

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8077200685820665259

Thank you for reading this, if in fact, you did read it at all.

Seth Herzog

Canby