This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Finally, we are seeing some rational drug sentencing! I was pleased that the socially and politically prominent Donna Weinholtz received only a year's probation and a $3,800 fine for possessing two pounds of marijuana. (Yes, two pounds. Even if your use — medical or recreational — is all-day, every-day, two pounds is going to last you a while.) ("Utah Democratic candidate for governor appeals for medical marijuana hours after wife pleads guilty to pot charges," The Tribune, Oct. 19).

Now, if only the socially and politically unconnected — the regular people — got probation and a fine with a two-pound possession arrest, maybe we wouldn't need that new zillion-dollar jail they're building out on in the badlands west of the airport. Think of the increased economic productivity that would come from having those people in the workforce instead of prison, and think of the tax dollars that could be saved and returned to the people by not building a prison we didn't need. Now those are Utah values, to be sure.

Marc Jackson

Salt Lake City