Pubdate: Tue, 21 Feb 2012
Source: Nanaimo News Bulletin (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012, BC Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/948
Author: Jim Corder
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n142/a05.html

LEGALIZATION A FEDERAL MATTER

To the Editor,

Re: Four former A-Gs add names to provincial push for pot legalization 
and Legalization's time has come, Opinion, Feb. 16.

I'm in total agreement with everything in both of these articles, but
is it not a federal matter rather than provincial?

Premier Christy Clark doesn't appear to be against ending prohibition
but she said she'd leave it up to the feds and I think she's right.

The people we need to convince are the prime minister and Public
Safety Minister Vic Toews.

It's time the Conservatives started showing some flexibility or
they'll just keep getting more accusations of being a
dictatorship.

We in Nanaimo could start by inundating the offices of Conservative MP
James Lunney and NDP MP Jean Crowder with mail and/or calls. They are
supposed to represent us and their addresses always appear in the News
Bulletin.

I'm not sure why a group of young protesters marched to the local
courthouse to protest the Conservative tough-on-crime legislation on
Thursday.

They may have found agreement there, but failing a march on federal
parliament, the next logical target would be Lunney's constituency
office.

There are parts of the omnibus Bill C-10 that I totally agree with,
but not the parts relating to marijuana.

And where is the Marijuana Party in all of this? Given the current
zeitgeist they could be shedding their reputation as a fringe party
and garnering a lot of votes.

As an aside, I'm not a regular pot smoker, but like millions of others
I've had occasions to try it and did not find it the least bit addictive.

In fact, if I have an addiction at all, it's my usual happy hour
bottle of ale, but only at home of course. I'm sure some puritans will
pick up on that, but I'm retired and deserve to relax now.

Jim Corder

Nanaimo
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.