Pubdate: Thu, 02 Dec 2004
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Kirk Tousaw
Note: Original series starts 28 Nov 2004 at 
http://www.mapinc.org/source/Toronto+Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

RE MARIJUANA GROW-OP SERIES

It's Deputy PM Anne McLellan (Nov. 29), not lenient judges, who needs 
education about marijuana prohibition. She implies judges are at fault 
because the sentences for grow-ops are not harsh enough. But harsher 
sentences (and mandatory minimums) won't impact marijuana use, cultivation 
or trafficking. One glance at the U.S. demonstrates a "war on drugs" 
approach is not a solution but, rather, a contributing factor to the 
problem. Prohibition imposes significantly more social and economic costs 
than marijuana use or cultivation. The reason organized crime is involved 
in the marijuana trade is because it is an illegal and, thus, unregulated 
marketplace. Legalize and regulate pot and you'll immediately remove many 
of the social costs McLellan bemoans. Every major study of pot use in 
Canada concludes harsher sentences aren't the answer -- significant reform, 
including legalization, is.

Kirk Tousaw

Detroit

(Nice try, but the facts show tough laws in the U.S. and a crackdown in 
B.C. are the major reason the gangs have moved their grow-ops here) 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D