Sacramento Bee, 02 Jun 2013 – Re "Dr. Skype’s pot exams: Quick, hazy" (Dan Morain, May 26): It is true that anyone in California who wants a medical marijuana recommendation can easily get one. The recommendation allows consumers to purchase locally grown marijuana of known quality and safety from dispensaries that generate tax revenue.

San Bernardino Sun, 24 May 2013 – Regarding John Weeks’ May 12 column, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal and there would be no medical marijuana debate. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s. Americans did not begin to smoke pot in significant numbers until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Marijuana prohibition has failed as a deterrent. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who’ve built careers confusing the drug war’s tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.

San Diego Union Tribune, 03 May 2013 – Regarding your May 2 editorial, "How to end the battle over marijuana": If health outcomes determined drug laws, marijuana would be legal and there would be no medical marijuana debate. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The Times-Herald, 06 Mar 2013 – Regarding Michael McCoy’s March 2 letter, the people of Colorado and Washington state are way ahead of the politicians in Washington, D.C. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. As long as cartels control marijuana distribution, consumers will be exposed to illegal cocaine, meth and heroin. By taxing and regulating legal marijuana, Colorado and Washington state will effectively close the gateway to hard drugs. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. Not just in Colorado and Washington but across the nation, it’s time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.