Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jan 2018
Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)
Copyright: 2018 Sun Media
Contact: http://www.thewhig.com/letters
Website: http://www.thewhig.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/224
Author: J. A. Hester
Page: B6

LIMIT POT USE TO MEDICAL PURPOSES

Thirty years ago, approximately 60 per cent of the Canadian population
smoked. Now, thanks to the efforts of Garfield Mahood and others like
him, that percentage of smokers has declined to about 30 per cent -
great!

But wait a minute! Now the federal Liberal government under the
direction of someone who has used marijuana is rushing to legalize and
promote the use of this drug, mainly by smoking or adding it in some
other form for "recreational" purposes. It is also being touted by the
premier of Ontario, who claims she has never used the stuff, and while
you need not be a chicken to know what an egg looks like, she
apparently has no clue about the dangers and cost associated with the
use of recreational drugs.

It is bad enough that this and former governments have always "pushed"
the use of alcohol by attractive advertising and the proliferation of
alcohol through extended hours at beer and liquor stores and are now
permitting sales in grocery stores and probably in variety stores in
the near future.

The abuse of alcohol is a pariah in terms of premature death from all
forms of vehicle crashes, countless other accidents, poor health and
foolish behaviour.

Now this government is trying to introduce another mind-bending
product, so among other things, we will not only have alcohol-impaired
drivers on the road, but also "pot heads" whose reaction time is
seriously compromised by marijuana and, in most cases, a combination
of the two.

There is no problem in making marijuana available for medical purposes
with prescription, but not "over the counter."

To add a note of incredibility to this mess, Trudeau and company are
planning to spend $38 million to educate the public about the dangers
of using this junk. I would be willing to bet there is no more than a
handful of people in this entire country that are not familiar with
the effects of marijuana, so this is just another huge waste of money
by this government, which already has to borrow billions to pay for
everyday expenses let alone this kind of unproductive action.

As a for instance, even when I was a child of eight or nine years old
playing in a schoolyard in St. Catharines, we all heard and were
warned about the use of "reefers," a bad idea then as now.

What will it take to dislodge the government from this idiotic venture
and restrict the use of marijuana for medical purposes similar to
fentanyl and other mind-altering drugs.

J. A. Hester

Kingston
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MAP posted-by: Matt