I agree that we should legalize (decriminalize) marijuana, but your reasoning for doing so troubles me. What we do must be right, but so must the reasons for doing it.

You make three points. If we decriminalize it many people would not be prosecuted and jailed, police would have more time to chase violent criminals, and we could collect badly needed tax money on the sale.

Good. Should we not also decriminalize crack cocaine? If we did, would not the same three reasons hold equally true? Perhaps more so. If those are the reasons why we would take criminality out of the drug business, can you think of any drug that would not qualify for legitamicy?

The case for marijuana is actually a case for taking another look at the way we deal with drugs. By that I mean the criteria by which we decide as to legality and criminality (they are not the same), and a review of this concept of looking at all "mind altering" drugs in one basket. Do we and should we condemn all drugs because they "alter" our mind - I am not so certain that there is such a thing as mind alteration.

I am a practising conservative on almost all issues, and I still have not recovered from the loss of Bork on the Supreme Court. I support law and order, but, like you, I don't think this is a law and order subject.