Pubdate: Mon, 03 Nov 2003
Source: Nanaimo News Bulletin (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003, BC Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/948
Author: Brad Dietrich

POT PROHIBITION ARGUMENTS BLOWING SMOKE

To the Editor,

I suppose MP James Lunney is correct when he asserts that "smoking anything 
is not good for you," but he still doesn't explain why adults who smoke 
cannabis in the privacy of their own homes should be criminals. (Proposed 
pot law opens door to abuse, says MP - Oct. 16).

Pot can be harmful, of course, but the degree of harm is substantially 
lower than that from either tobacco or alcohol, and more in line with that 
from caffeine, too much saturated fat, not enough roughage, not enough 
exercise, etc., etc.; all of which are perfectly legal.

This, of course, refers only to individuals who actually consume cannabis. 
For the greater society, it is even less harmful.

People high on pot are seldom violent or even unruly. The idea that it 
corrupts morals is 1930s hysterical nonsense.

Tokers probably miss fewer workdays than drinkers, and although neither 
should partake during working hours, the person doing cannabis is not as 
dangerous as the person on booze.

There have been many studies on how cannabis affects drivers, but most 
people haven't heard this because the police, our governments, and our 
mainstream media don't like the conclusions made by the researchers.

Speaking of research, did anybody follow that great experiment conducted 
this year in Ontario? You know, the one where the whole province had legal 
pot for several months? Guess what happened? Nothing happened! No anarchy 
in the streets; no spectacular car crashes by stoned drivers, no hordes of 
Americans partying in the streets and taking their cannabis back across the 
border.

What about the Americans? They would never, ever allow another country to 
interfere in their domestic affairs, so they have no right to interfere in 
the domestic affairs of others. Tighter borders? Money rules the U.S., and 
as soon as tighter borders hurt the profit margins of corporate America, 
they will be opened immediately.

Yes, virtually all the concerns raised by prohibitionists, like Dr. Lunney, 
are either false or exaggerated: the risks to consumers of cannabis, the 
risks to the greater society, the risks to our international relations.

There is simply no justification for, and no benefit to be gained by, the 
prohibition against cannabis. If you aren't hurting anybody, you don't 
deserve to be a criminal. This is not radical thinking, this is also the 
opinion of the Canadian Senate and almost half of all Canadians.

Dr. Lunney expresses concern over children getting the message that pot is 
less dangerous than other drugs. I, however, am more concerned about the 
message that cannabis prohibition gives to young people: namely, that it's 
okay to lie and exaggerate to them if you think it's for their own good, 
and it's okay to make criminals out of people, no matter how harmless they 
are, simply because you don't like them.

Brad Dietrich,
Port Alberni
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart