David Shapiro’s Sunday column (“No time for pakalolo high on busy legislative agenda,” Star-Advertiser, Volcanic Ash, Feb. 25) misses by a mile the point of cannabis legalization, as well as its benefits.

The headline for legalization should be: “Prohibition is a decades-old failed policy.” Legalization is about ending that prohibition and the untold harms it caused to families and communities alike.

“Kinks” in the medical cannabis program are largely due to heavy-handed regulation by a Legislature stuck in the “prohibition” mindset, rather than one of harm reduction. No, the black market won’t spontaneously disappear with legalization, nor will there be a mountainous windfall in tax revenue.

But modest mid-eight-figure revenues shouldn’t be scoffed at. Particularly at a time when the state is desperate for revenue and when those dollars could directly benefit those most harmed by failed prohibition policies that have packed our jails and prisons.

Josh Frost

Kaimuki

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