Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jun 2016 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Alan Coxwell Page: IN 11 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n371/a10.html SEEING THROUGH THE POT SMOKE Re: Toronto police raid marijuana dispensaries, May 27 Justin Trudeau really should go down the hall and elbow his way into former Toronto police chief and MP Bill Blair's Parliamentary office and tell him he wants to fast track the legalization of cannabis to the end of June 2016. Then Justin might call current Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders and ask him to politely to drop the 257 charges and release any of the 90 arrested in last week's cannabis dispensary raids who might still be lingering in one of his steel cages. Millions of dollars in police and court time are about to be squandered even if the Liberals keep their word to introduce cannabis legislation in the spring of 2017. Surely Canadians have better, more enlightened and humane ways to spend their tax dollars. Here is the reality check upon which the above suggestion is offered: Dr. Kieran Michael Moore, associate professor of emergency and family medicine at Queen's University in Kingston, recently pointed out that we have a "prescribed drug epidemic in Ontario." According to Dr. Moore, 5,383 Ontario residents died from non-intentional, opioid-related causes from 2002 to 2014. Here in Hastings County, an average of five people died each year between 2006 and 2010 from accidental opioid overdoses. Dr. Moore points out that even a week of opioid pain killer use can lead to addiction. In that same time period, how many people died from cannabis? Zero. Not one death has ever been attributed cannabis overdose in North America. In fact, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that in certain areas, legalized marijuana coincided with a drastic reduction in painkiller deaths. But Big Pharma and Big Alcohol do not like what they are seeing and they have the money to "lobby" politicians. Toronto Police Chief Saunders justified his actions by saying, "it's a genuine health concern" because of the lack of a regulatory process or quality control and due to the fact that some dispensaries were within 300 metres of schools. Herein lies the problem. Richard Nixon's "War on Drugs" propaganda has permeated our consciousness about cannabis since 1971. The outright lies and politically motivated distortions of the truth are all engrained deeply in our society. Organized crime was just given a reprieve by Toronto Police. Street dealers will once again fill the demand because the people who want cannabis know the truth: as a drug cannabis is comparatively harmless yet very helpful to many who suffer from various health issues. If politicians would simply educate themselves about the reality of this plant, new industries could flourish. Like the wine revolution in Prince Edward County, where someone with passion can buy some land, plant some vines, squash some grapes and market their wine, Hastings County could have a flourishing hemp/cannabis agricultural renaissance. From hemp we can derive paper, cloth, hemp-crete building material, synthetic fuel produced seven times more efficiently than ethanol from corn, etc. etc. The choice is yours Justin. Please, go knock on Bill Blair's door. Alan Coxwell, Stirling, Ont. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom