Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jan 2014
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 David Reid
Contact:  http://www.edmontonsun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: David Reid

POT MYTHS

All Justin Trudeau jokes aside, the war on drugs, especially
concerning marijuana, has been an abject failure. Larry Comeau, in his
letter to the editor, states that Obama is being irresponsible by
claiming pot is no more harmful than alcohol. I agree, alcohol kills
at least 6,000 Canadians every year, marijuana, zero. Another fallacy,
brought on by the anti-marijuana faction, is the 'stepping stone drug'
myth. I contend that most teens drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco,
before they ever try marijuana, and even Rob Ford admitted he was in a
"drunken stupor" when he tried smoking crack. I won't even go into the
medicinal benefits that have been attributed to marijuana, because
most Canadians now realize that they have been lied to about this
subject. The psychosis claim is not only hypocritical but another red
herring, brought to you by the same people who make money from these
archaic laws. If you really want to see what psychosis looks like,
head over to the market at 2 in th! e morning and watch what our
police have to deal with every weekend because of alcohol
over-indulgence. Another point the nay-sayers seem to forget is that
through legalization, comes taxation. The estimates, from B.C. alone,
put the value of marijuana cultivation, at $2-$10 billion dollars,
making it one of the top three industries in that province. All that
taxable income, could be used to fix our crumbling infrastructure, and
prop up our failing health care system. We spend at least $400 million
dollars a year, fighting this ridiculous war, while close to 60% of
Canadians agree it's time to rethink our strategy concerning
incarceration versus addiction treatment. If you don't believe that we
can find a viable solution to this dilemma, look no further than
Portugal, and what they have discovered, since they ended this
un-winnable and costly war.

David Reid

(We don't agree marijuana is as harmless as you would like us to
believe.)
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D