Pubdate: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2009 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/info/letters/index.html Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 Author: Allan Myk MINIMUM SENTENCES WRONG I would like to express my opposition to the bill requiring mandatory minimum sentences, especially in regards to the cultivation of marijuana. In light of the fact that a Senate committee report on marijuana found that marijuana is relatively harmless to society especially when compared to alcohol and other drugs. I ask that Canada decriminalize its use and production, in small amounts for personal use. Let me make it clear that I do not want to see my fellow citizens serving six months in prison for growing a plant. It is clear to me and many other citizens that the marijuana issue is, and always has been, a victim of politics, and not reason or scientific principle. While I do not claim that using marijuana is particularly beneficial to all people, it is certainly less harmful than most other drugs including tobacco and alcohol, and less addictive as well. We have seen that in the U.S. harsh mandatory minimum prison sentences have done nothing to end the brutal drug war; all they have done is put more money in the pockets of the black market. I'm sure we would all like a safe, drug-free society, but mandatory minimum sentences are not going to get us there. Allan Myk Winnipeg - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake