Editor:

When Kym Kemp warns us that "an enormous tsunami is poised to drown the economics of this area," she means her neighbors in SoHum will be between scams ("Welcome to Pot City!" March 25).

"There isn't a trade or company that doesn't receive a goodly portion of its monthly income either directly or indirectly from cannabis." Actually there is one: Arcata Arts, my publishing company. I get the feeling we're not alone.

Legalization will push weed down to around 50 cents a pound, in line with other cheap agricultural commodities. It will be grown in Kentucky and North Carolina on 10,000-acre plantations, just like tobacco -- maybe on the very same plantations. The "enormous tsunami" crowd can try plying motorists with puffs of sinsemilla, hopefully in some unpopulated county far from here.

Without pot growing, Humboldt County can get back to being Humboldt County. We'll still have our Redwoods, our coastline, our charming towns, our rivers and our university. We don't need help from armed thugs in grow houses to plan our future.

Gordon Inkeles, Arcata