The original email to GA Rep. Tommy “Caning for Potheads” Benton

In the continuing saga over Georgia State Rep. Tommy “Caning for Potheads” Benton we’ve had one commenter ask:

you werent too clear on what the emails that you sent him said… can you guys put it up? if it was a ‘kind, polite email’ i dont beleive he would have said that. this article seems a little biased. i completely disagree with what he was saying, though…

Here you go.  This is what generated the response of “Thanks for the email. We will have to agree to disagree on this and whether or not money is wasted. I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana. I think we should go to caning for people caught using and maybe execute dealers. That would solve the problem as well. That is what they do in Singapore and they don’t have a drug problem, but then they have less liberty than we do here.”  You tell me if it is kind and polite enough.

July 28, 2009

The Honorable Tommy Benton
Georgia House of Representatives
Coverdell Legislative Office Building
Atlanta, GA 30334

Dear Representative Benton:

As a voter and proud citizen of these United States, I am very disappointed to read that you and your constituents are continuing to waste more and more taxpayer dollars as you continue the impossible effort to eradicate marijuana from this country through your failed “War on Drugs” effort.

You are spending untold amounts of OUR money virtually using a bucket to empty an ocean. America sees through the lies of the War on Drugs and America wants marijuana without persecution. We already know that it is safer than alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical drugs and with the fact that it is the largest cash crop in the USA it baffles many who realize that legalization, taxation and regulation is the best solution to the problem. The War on Drugs is a paramount failure and will never work and is, in fact, the direct cause for most, if not all, marijuana-related problems in this country.

Are you aware that our children can get illicit drugs more easily than they can get alcohol or tobacco? That’s because people like you fight to keep the control in the hands of the cartels, the gangs, and the unregistered, untaxed, street dealers, none of whom ask a buyer for ID.

Please stop throwing away our tax dollars and please help put a damper in the Mexican Drug Cartels’ business by legalizing and controlling cannabis. It is time to think wisely.

We must end this insane “war on drugs” and we must use logic and common sense to deal with America’s drug problem. A fast-growing majority of American voters agree.

One on behalf of many

Sincerely,
D____ J. T_____