Pubdate: Thu, 10 Mar 2016
Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Abbotsford News
Contact:  http://www.abbynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1155
Author: Randal Dillon

FUTURE INCLUDES MARIJUANA

It was with habitual dismay I read the March 2nd comments by Member 
of Parliament Ed Fast regarding the recent green light given by the 
courts for people to grow medical marijuana in their homes.

A bit of history that should not be forgotten. Marijuana probably 
never would have begun being grown indoors, certainly not at the 
scale seen in the last few decades, if paraquat had not been sprayed 
on outdoor grown fields of the plant.

That was the beginning of the end of so-called war on drugs. The 
health scare faced by paraquat-tainted marijuana is what resulted in 
marijuana being grown in all our neighbourhoods. No one wanted 
outdoor grown marijuana anymore.

Ed Fast should think about things a bit more before he decides who is 
to blame for his concerns. People just like Ed Fast and their 
prohibitionist outlook were the people that brought indoor homegrown 
marijuana to your neighbourhood.

Moreover, I think it is past time the conservative aspects of our 
community (hello, city hall) embraced a future which includes 
marijuana and industrial hemp.

By turning our backs on this valuable crop, grown indoors or out, we 
are depriving our community of the biggest opportunity for economic 
growth to come along in quite some time. Our children deserve nothing less.

Randal Dillon
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom