Pubdate: Wed, 25 Apr 2012
Source: Eagle Valley News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Sicamous Eagle Valley News
Contact:  http://www.eaglevalleynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4362

ELDERS OFFER A COMMON-SENSE APPROACH TO POT

What do the federal and provincial governments and marijuana advocacy 
groups have in common? They monitor every shred of news related to 
them published by your local newspapers.

The latter not only reads every story related to marijuana and the 
"war on drugs," but typically respond with letters to the editor, 
espousing views in favour of legalization.

Recently, in his newspaper column, MP Colin Mayes voiced his concerns 
relating to marijuana use and the legalization debate. Not 
surprisingly, the letters soon followed, criticizing the MP for his 
questionable background sources and his knowledge of cannabis use, a 
subject Mayes himself admitted to not being an expert on.

What is kind of surprising is the response the column has elicited 
from Sicamous. Well, in particular, the respondents. The News has 
received two letters from individuals who could easily be called 
respected elders in the community. To our knowledge, neither of these 
writers has a personal, pro-pot agenda, nor are they guided by 
partisan ideology on this matter. Instead, their stand appears to be 
driven by historical precedence and common sense: that past 
prohibitions proved a failure, and decriminalizing a profitable 
substance reduces pot-related crime (though certainly not eliminate 
it), while giving the powers-that-be a new revenue generator.

Interestingly, John McKay, a Republican and the former U.S. attorney 
who prosecuted B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery, has since joined 
the ranks of former police and legal experts to state the war on 
marijuana is a bust, that the "criminal prohibition of marijuana is a 
complete failure." McKay argues marijuana, like alcohol, should be 
sold to adults by the state, which in turn would be a boon to 
government coffers.

Perhaps our elected officials should take heed of this common-sense 
approach - support a failed war and laws that inadvertently propagate 
organized, and occasionally violent, crime, or generate needed 
revenue while cutting some of the backlog of our clogged court system.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart