Anna Bremmer: By banning marijuana, the drug dealers win

Re “Medical Marijuana: Sales and cultivation barred, at least for now” (Page 2A, Jan. 6): Banning marijuana cultivation is a mistake. It is a mild inconvenience for financially secure cannabis patients to travel to another city to procure medicine. But this ban might force local patients who have limited incomes to purchase cannabis illegally. Illegal cannabis sales puts those dollars exactly where we don’t want them, in the hands of cartels. Banning cannabis sale and cultivation takes income out of the city. Banning cultivation in particular removes money from the local economy, as patients will have to buy cannabis instead of growing it. This diverts thousands of dollars from entering the local economy.

With regards to the safety of our citizens, and the local economy, I urge the city to consider other options.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Anna Bremmer: By banning marijuana, the drug dealers win."