Dear editor,
I enjoyed the recent articles on bootlegging.
Regretfully, I was unable to attend the presentation at the Allen County Historical Society, but was wondering if anyone made any comments or mention of our current period of prohibition. America made a bad law prohibiting alcohol in the early 20th century, and paid the price with over-reaching consequences much like today’s DEA classification of marijuana as a Class 1 scheduled substance, putting it in the same class as heroin and making it a felony to possess any amount of weed. This has led to America’s shameful criminal policy of incarceration of ordinary citizens whose only “crime” is that they like to get high, or in many cases, they need it for medicinal purposes.
I have just returnedto Iola after spending 40 years in Los Angeles as an artist. Due to personal illnesses and injuries, and their subsequent pain, I was able to get a license in California to possess and ingest small amounts of cannabis that helps alleviate my chronic pain. I also learned to use it as an enhancer to my creativity processes when I’m working on a project. Needless to say, I do not have the option of having my medicine in Kansas. It makes life hard, but I deal with it.
The future is clear. Marijuana (cannabis) will be federally legal within the next two to five years.
If Kansas were to legalize growing and consuming cannabis, it would quickly be out of debt. Weed is not dangerous, it is not addictive, it is medicinal and beneficial if used properly. It is also extremely lucrative.
Benefits would include: Everyone could grow and sell marijuana and keep the profits for which the government could tax the sales to pay for schools, education, roads and infrastructure, etc.
At this point you’re probably envisioning some hippie types, stoned out of their minds, neglecting their children, farm animals, and other obligations by smoking pot constantly. Simply, this is not true. The average person only uses a little on weekends to relax, just like alcohol, a far more dangerous, yet legal, substance. The laws should regulate marijuana exactly like alcohol.
Of course, there will be growing pains. People need to be carefully educated about the proper dosages, especially first-time users. Unlike street drugs, legitimate sellers are required by law to fully inform customers about potency and exact dosages. And, like drinking, one never drives when high, and if they do they pay the consequences just like drunk drivers.
One of the many by-products of growing cannabis is fibers for making paper, and for building material for houses and manufacturing. I urge you to educate yourselves by exploring the Internet. Then make an informed decision about whether legalizing pot in Kansas would be a good thing or not.
Tom Ellis,
Iola, Kan.
