Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005
Source: Alliston Herald (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Contact:  http://www.simcoe.com/sc/alliston/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2224
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

WRONG AGENDA

The argument four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would be 
alive today if marijuana was legal in Canada is absolutely ludicrous.

It's true that if it was completely legal to grow your own pot then there 
just wouldn't be the same demand for grow labs. The customer base they 
depend upon would simply dry up. But these "commercial" growers are not 
pot-smoking anarchists who want the narcotic legalized so they can smoke it 
themselves. This isn't about politics or freedom for them, it's about one 
thing -- money. When the customer base dries up and the profitability of 
their operations falls, they will quickly get out of pot.

Criminals who operate marijuana growing operations, whether they be in a 
greenhouse, quonset hut or suburban home, would simply move on to some 
other lucrative illegal drug with a high-profit margin.

Instead of busting up grow labs, cops would be faced with the unenviable 
and even more dangerous task of raiding crystal meth or other chemical 
designer drug labs.

For all indications the perpetrator of the shooting out west didn't kill 
the RCMP officers to protect his growing operation anyway. It had already 
been broken up and removed. This individual clearly had a history of 
problems with the police. This had more to do with some demented form of 
revenge than it did marijuana.

For the pot lobby to use this tragedy to advance its own agenda is shameful 
and disgusting. If anyone should be using it, it should be opposition party 
members to show how ineffective the multi-billion dollar Liberal gun 
registry is and always will be.

Pot doesn't kill people -- guns do. Stephen Harper shouldn't be shying away 
from the argument because he's afraid it might make him look insensitive. 
When all the mourning has been done, the family members of these officers 
will be looking for answers and measures to ensure such a thing never 
happens again. There's nothing shameful about that.
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MAP posted-by: Beth