Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2012
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: R.T. Lee

AN MCBO?

Re: Rhetoric won't solve gun violence, July 24.

This editorial on gun violence points out that gun-toting criminals
have the money, and that it is no wonder many teens in poor
neighbourhoods seek to emulate them.

It follows then that we ask how it is that the bad guys have the
money?

The answer is obvious: we have criminalized the use of high-demand
soft drugs like marijuana and hashish, creating scarcity and high
prices, thereby lining the pockets of the sellers.

Clearly, it is illegal drugs that provide gangs with the cash flow to
buy the cars, guns and ammunition.

We accept that alcohol and tobacco, with their long list of
deleterious effects, must be made available to adults. We must accept
the same rationale for soft drug use. A Marijuana Control Board of
Ontario would be the absolute worst news for the gun-toting thugs in
our cities.

But as long as we continue the failed war on drugs, i.e. Prohibition
II, there will be no solution to gang violence. The intransigence of
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama (and the news
media) on this issue certainly does not bode well.

R.T. Lee, Toronto
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MAP posted-by: Matt