The use of marihuana should be regulated and taxed by the government, whether federal, state or local. Thats what governments arefor. It is a great mistake to allow the entire industry of marihuana, from beginning to end, to be conducted as a black market, withoutany control or regulation. It is the role and function of government to regulate the traffic in any material that is deemed to behazardous in any way, and it is also the role of government to lead the way in the research of hazardous or controversial materials.Education must be the pillar of any policy of control, not legal sanction.To maintain the position that such a policy is useless, since the use of marihuana is to be stamped out in its entirety, is indefensible, notonly because it is a lost cause, but also because it is legally and politically without authority. It is an arbitrary and unprecedented abuseof power to attempt to interfere with the way people want to live their lives. The absolute depths of stupidity are reached when the response to a controversial material is to forbid any research on the subject. Idont understand. Certainly anyone can see that to forbid research on a controversial subject is just about the stupidest approachimaginable. Perhaps the data on marihuana is flawed or incomplete or inadequate, but to date the overwhelming consensus of informedopinion regards the dangers of marihuana as vastly overstated, and potential medical benefits possibly considerable. If this is not true,and marihuana really is a dangerous drug, I certainly want to know, and I ask that research not only be allowed, but funded. I want toknow more about LSD too, while I am at it. Without any doubt, LSD is a most incredibly amazing and potent material, and I want toknow more about it. Since one of the most common reactions to the use of LSD is to report a spiritual experience, or even anexperience of the presence of God, I want to know more about it, not to see it stamped out...
