Pubdate: Tue, 28 May 2013
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Jerry Agar
Page: 21
Cited: http://www.ccsa.ca/Eng/Pages/Home.aspx

30-YEAR-OLD ALLEGATIONS ABSURD

Hands up if you who smoked a joint or two - or too many to count - in
the past, or are doing it now.

Hands up if you have tried a little - or a lot - of hashish at one
time in the past, or are doing it now.

Okay, those who don't have your hands up can condemn the rest of us,
and yes, I am including myself. I can be arrested during my
Newstalk1010 radio show in Toronto (good for ratings) if that seems
necessary or even legal, now that more than 30 years have passed.

I honestly can't remember the name of the guy or gal I got it from, so
there is no use trying to beat it out of me.

My use of those drugs corresponds with the dates the Globe and Mail is
alleging Toronto Councillor Doug Ford was selling hash, but I was in
Manitoba at the time, so it wasn't anyone in Etobicoke who sold or
gave it to me. Ford vehemently denies the allegations.

George Smitherman admitted to a five-year addiction to a drug that was
part of the "Toronto party scene," and he received over a third of the
votes in the 2010 mayor's race won by Rob Ford.

Generally a politician these days who admits to youthful use of
organic drugs is praised for honesty and "just being real."

For those of us who have used the drug to excuse ourselves by claiming
that we were never dealers is hypocrisy. The buyer and the seller are
in the same business. And that goes for rich people who are hoovering
up lines of cocaine in Toronto. They are the end link in a chain that
runs from the Colombian drug lords through the Hells Angels and the
street dealers. They are the market the bloody, deadly business serves.

The same paper making the allegations about Coun. Ford wrote in April
of this year: "A report released last week shows that 28% of
15-year-olds admitted to having used cannabis in the past year. The
figure comes from a World Health Organization (WHO) study conducted in
2009, which surveyed teenagers across 29 developed nations, including
more than 15,000 in Canada."

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse reports: "Cannabis is the most
commonly used illegal drug in Canada and worldwide."

The Liberal Party of Canada recently voted to make legalization of
marijuana part of its platform, with a network of 2,700 retail outlets
across the country.

Their report lists among their reasons for legalization, "WHEREAS,
despite almost a century of prohibition, millions of Canadians today
regularly consume marijuana and other cannabis products."

The report goes on to say that "60% of respondents in every province
support reform of marijuana laws, the largest demographic group that
supports reform of current law is (aged) 55 to 64. NDP supporters were
the most likely to say they were for easing of current laws (71%),
followed by Liberal supporters (64%) and Conservative supporters (59%)."

It is quite possible to have been involved in something in the past
and to condemn it in the present. People grow and change.

But it is hypocritical to have done something in the past and then
condemn someone else for having done the same.

For those who have never used anything illegal, say what you will.
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MAP posted-by: Matt