Legalizing marijuana will have positive outcomes
After reviewing the arguments for and against Constitutional Initiatives 190 and 118, initiatives to legalize adult use of marijuana and to establish a 21-year age restriction for access to marijuana, I am persuaded that these bills are carefully and thoughtfully constructed with the welfare of all parties taken into consideration.
One benefit of adopting these initiatives is their positive impact on people whose lives are upended by laws criminalizing marijuana. These laws have resulted in felony convictions and disproportionately severe sentences for nonviolent marijuana use by adults.
Felons are often denied public services such as housing and food stamps, the right to vote and access to jobs. This tragic outcome has had a proportionally greater impact on people of color.
Data from the ACLU found that Black people were 9.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people in Montana, despite similar rates of use. The initiatives would eliminate felony convictions for marijuana possession by adults and enable them to become contributing family members and citizens. As concerns about racial injustice have risen we can protest non-violently by voting for Constitutional Initiatives 190 and 118.
Heather Jackson
Bozeman
Raking forest another one of Trump’s crazy ideas
Two years ago, President Trump claimed the reason there aren’t forest fires in Finland is because they rake the forest floor. He recently repeated that claim regarding the fires plaguing California.
The “very stable genius” could easily solve two problems: COVID-caused unemployment and wildfires.
As a brilliant businessman, he could enact a program similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps. It provided millions of jobs to help the U.S. through the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The U.S. currently has about 238,000,000 forested acres managed by the government. If 1,000,000 unemployed were to rake our forests, that would be 238 acres per person. Difficult to access
terrain and the logistics of removing everything raked would provide work for quite a while.
The self-professed great negotiator could persuade insurance companies to help pay, as it would be cheaper than the billions they pay for fire damage.
Then get the big box hardware stores to provide rakes at little or no charge.
Child’s play for his business acumen!
Reduced unemployment and less fires. Even Congress should be able to agree on this one! Crazy idea? You’re right! But it is a lot less ludicrous than another four years of a Trump presidency.
Dave Divis
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letters to the Editor 10/3/20