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February 24, 2009Dear Assemblyman Ira Ruskin,I am writing to you regarding the recently proposed Assembly Bill 390, which would legalize marijuana forrecreational buying, selling, and use for all people over 21 years old. I would like to ask for your support on thispiece of legislation now and, if necessary, in the future.Marijuana is, at this point, illegal for recreational use. AB 390 is an important bill to pass for two overarchingreasons: 1) The war on marijuana is ineffective and was not based on logical conclusions, and 2) Marijuanalegalization would have countless benefits in terms of economy and crime reduction.Marijuana, unlike other recreationally used drugs, is relatively harmless. Marijuana use does not impededecision making like alcohol does, and the only marijuana-related deaths have come from choking on vomit.Marijuana is not as addictive as tobacco and alcohol, and addiction has few negative long-term effects besideslack of motivation and dependence. Furthermore, unlike alcohol, it is impossible to overdose on marijuana.Lung-related illnesses are much less probable with marijuana than with tobacco, since tobacco smokers oftensmoke multiple times daily, and marijuana smokers smoke much less often.Despite marijuana's illegality, use is extremely common among teenagers and adults alike. In other words, thecriminalization of marijuana has had minimal effect on recreational use. Marijuana is readily available to themajority of the population, especially teenagers, through connections to international gangs, marijuana growers,and abusers of medical marijuana licenses.The most significant effect of the legalization of marijuana would be seen in the profits and economic benefitsthat could come from a government-regulated marijuana industry. Recreational marijuana users are bountiful inCalifornia, and the taxes that could be collected from marijuana sales would have a significantly positive effecton our economy, a vital step to take considering its condition today. With government-regulated sale of marijuana, a very powerful industry could arise alongside it. Tobacco has always been a very strong cash crop,and marijuana could be anticipated to do nearly as well, if not better. This creates not only a powerful industryfor California but a myriad of jobs.The illegality of marijuana has created a web of crime and criminals associated with it, and has distracted ourpolice from more significant crimes. Legal marijuana would take sales away from criminal organizations andallow for police to focus their efforts on serious crimes that harm the community. The money we are spendingon keeping marijuana-associated criminals in jail is money that could be much better spent elsewhere. Mostimportantly, marijuana's illegality has created a number of well-meaning people who do minimal harm to societyin selling marijuana who have to face legal punishment when caught by the police. Despite the fact that thesepeople ignored the law, this is, quite frankly, unfair. Especially when there are much more dangerous anddeserving criminals in our state, marijuana dealers and users needn't face punishment for encouraging the use of an essentially harmless drug.Once again, I ask that you support AB 390 now and in the future, and that you support any revisions or similarlegislations that may arise should AB 390 fail to pass. Thank you for your time, consideration, and reply.
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