I keep hearing that marijuana is a huge cash crop and that, if legalized, could be removed from the underground economy and taxed on its sale, as are liquor and cigarettes. That would make money for the government (us), instead of money being spent on arresting people who might otherwise be law-abiding citizens who honestly believe marijuana is a good thing.

I came of age in the 1960s and smoked plenty of it myself when I was young. I don’t think it is such a big deal. Nor was it any big deal for me to quit when I decided to do so (when I became a mother). I still smoke cigarettes, regrettably, despite many attempts to quit.

If pot were legalized, law officials would perhaps have more time and money to go after dangerous drugs such as meth, crack, cocaine and heroin – drugs that ruin people’s lives – instead of criminalizing users of a fairly benign substance that hasn’t been shown (by any studies of which I am aware) to be anywhere near as dangerous as tobacco or alcohol.

Virginia Hughes, Auburn