Pubdate: Wed, 24 Nov 2004
Source: Huron Expositor, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2004 The Huron Expositor
Contact:  http://www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2183
Author: Russell Barth
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1624/a07.htm

EASY ACCESS TO POT IS NOT THE FAULT OF KIDS, BUT RATHER THE GOVERNMENT FOR 
NOT REGULATING IT, SAYS READER

Seaforth Huron Expositor -- To The Editor,

RE: Policing Meeting To Teach Parents About Street Drugs

It isn't kids' fault they can get pot easily. It is the fault of the 
government for not regulating it!

All of this "Drug War" nonsense has accomplished absolutely nothing. Don't 
police have "terrorists" to worry about? Are there not more important 
things for police to do?

Not that kids should be using pot (they shouldn't), but where does this 
"War On Consumer Choice" end? Shall we strip-search every student every day?

"Pass the urine test every morning, junior, or you don't get to learn!"

No wonder kids use so much dope; they aren't being treated like people. 
They are being treated like prisoners and property.

They also know they have been lied to about the so called "dangers" of 
using cannabis, so why should they believe a word that adults say anymore?

Teens buy pot from other teens in playgrounds, because our government is 
too stupid, lazy, and inept to regulate cannabis so it will be out of the 
alleys and into stores, where people would need a valid ID to obtain it! It 
worked when alcohol regulation was enacted eight decades ago, and it would 
work today with cannabis.

By not legalizing and regulating cannabis like tobacco and alcohol, our 
government, courts, and police are knowingly and deliberately subsidizing 
organized crime.

They are making people paranoid about their neighbours, making pot easier 
for teens to access than alcohol and tobacco, wasting nearly $2 billion 
every year on a failed policy, and endangering Canadians.

They are also keeping another $2 billion in potential annual tax revenue 
away from Canadians and putting it directly into the underground economy, 
instead of education and healthcare. It leads me to wonder just which side 
of the law they are really on.

Prohibition didn't work in the 1920s with alcohol, and it is failing even 
more miserably with cannabis. If prohibition were going to work it would 
have worked by now.

Russell Barth, Ottawa
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager