Pubdate: Fri, 09 Dec 2016
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.torontosun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Michael Boehlke
Page: 16
Note: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor.

GOING TO POT

I'm laughing really hard right now at all of the crying little liberal
potheads who feel cheated by their knight in shining armour who rode
into Ottawa on his Liberal Red Bong last year! This proves that pot
indeed makes people stupid. Consider two other widely used drugs:
Alcohol and tobacco.

When do you think it was more free for enterprising individuals to 
produce, distribute, and consume these two drugs: Before or after the 
government began taxing them? The reason why the black market marijuana 
industry was relatively un-policed under the Harper administration was 
that it had no plans to derive revenue from it. And since recreational 
production and use of marijuana was a non-violent, non-destructive crime 
that made the perpetrators and customers fairly apathetic, they turned a 
blind eye to it.

Once the government controls a revenue stream, it greedily guards it 
with the precision and efficiency of the most well-oiled machine. At 
least they are efficient at one thing. Get ready for more busts, more 
raids, more fines, more jail time, and "high" pot prices. Sorry 
potheads, your utopian free market just went up in smoke.

Michael Boehlke

Mississauga

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(Bummer, man)
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MAP posted-by: Matt