Letters

Liu’s cartoon shows misunderstanding

It was with great disappointment to see Jason Liu’s
political cartoon (“Revenge”, August 19,
2002). Clearly he doesn’t know much about the history of
the conflict, and his opinion is based only on what he’s seen
and read in the US media. How else can one explain his failure
to distinguish between terrorists bombing a university cafeteria
and Israeli soldiers undertaking preventive measures to
protect their citizens? All he knows is: Israelis are dying,
Palestinians are dying, and it must be a “cycle of
revenge.” The lack of moral clarity is astounding.

Benjamin Taylor First-year Law student

Marijuana can solve budget problems

Tantamount to legislating morality, proponents of raising the
already high cigarette tax nobly argue that it will generate much
needed revenue for a government facing bloated deficits. While
the tax will undoubtedly generate large sums of money as well as
discourage cash strapped individuals from buying cigarettes, it
exploits poorer sections of society and sets an increasingly
dangerous precedent for the government–defining which human vices
merit excess taxation. 

The Daily Bruin’s August 19 editorial, “Smokers to
unfairly bear deficit burden,” rightly assailed Herb
Wesson’s logic. Unfortunately your editorial board stopped
far short of a providing an alternate source of funding.

There are a wealth of untapped revenue sources Sacramento
ignores in seeking to compensate for a struggling
economy. Increased taxes on SUVs, gas, and annual individual
income over $1 million dollars are a few examples. 

However, due to its prominence in Los Angeles news this week, I
would like to propose a more controversial source of revenue. Just
recently the DEA seized what they estimated to be over $120 million
dollars worth of marijuana from a national park in Los Angeles
County.

The DEA will then systematically dispose of this marijuana,
effectively burning a check that if cashed could go a long way in
refilling state coffers. The United States could find millions
of potential marijuana buyers internationally. Denmark and
many other European nations have already legalized marijuana or are
in the process of removing it from their list of controlled
substances. With the amendment of international law and trade
agreements, the United States could reap huge benefits from these
seizures by finding buyers for the seized marijuana to fund any
number of state programs and alleviate the burden now placed on a
predominantly poor group of citizens.

The United States owes it to its citizens to take advantage of
all legitimate sources of tax revenue.  Instead of exploiting
a politically anemic yet law abiding group of smokers, why not use
marijuana confiscated from illegal growers to benefit society as a
whole.

Sebastian Miller Second-year Business
economics