Editor:
The claim that opposing the recreational sale of marijuana in Santa Monica (measure HMP) is “reefer madness” is unworthy of the SMDP.
The widely reported murders and environmental devastation, (www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-08/reality-of-legal-weed-in-california-illegal-grows-deaths) and the terrible toll on our children ( http://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/well/mind/teens-thc-cannabis.html ), are not some fevered dream - they were created by the way pot was legalized.
California voters were tricked - they thought they were just ending long prison sentences for minor infractions - something that could have been achieved without destroying our kids or our lands.
Pot has been portrayed as no-big-deal, and perhaps it was when it meant an occasional puff on a low-potency spliff. It should have been de-criminalized, not legalized.
And the pie-in-the-sky claims of expected tax revenues from the stores never pan out.
The presence of local pot stores has been shown to increase under-age consumption. And parents will have no idea if their children are using high-potency, odorless vapes or popping pot-candy.
Forget the murders and environmental destruction - the spread of pot-stores will harm the educational chances of many kids and may devastate the lives of more than a few.
To deny that is truly “reefer madness”.
Vote no on HMP.
Peter Borresen, Santa Monica
