Pubdate: Sun, 16 May 2004 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: G. Geurts Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n722/a03.html?69197 OLD-SCHOOL FAILING I applaud Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell's progressive thoughts on drugs. Clearly, the old-school mentality of "Throw the bums in jail" is not working and Mayor Campbell is at least trying something else to solve the problem. Beating our brains out trying to prohibit something has never worked, so why not try a new approach? Education will be the key to saving our kids from a wasted life, not throwing them in jail for smoking a joint. Taxes from B.C.'s multimillion-dollar-a-year underground cannabis industry could breathe new life into our dying health-care system. And I suspect legalization would put an end to illegal grow-ops and probably free up a huge amount of police resources for more important tasks. G. Geurts, Victoria - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin