Dear editor: Re: Police chiefs support tickets for pot possession - Aug. 21 An open letter to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police: Last week, they suggested handing out tickets for marijuana users instead of laying charges. Here's a better idea: Leave marijuana users alone and go do some real police work, you lazy cowards. Seriously, women are being sexually assaulted and going missing; kids are living with monstrous villains; people are sick on the street because prohibition has made the cities awash with smack and meth and crack; human trafficking abounds; corporate criminals are destroying the planet and evading taxes; and you clowns walk around wasting your time laying marijuana charges or issuing warnings. [continues 216 words]
The Canadian Association Of Police Chiefs suggests handing out tickets for marijuana users instead of laying charges (Ease Pot Penalties, Police Urge - Aug. 21). Here's a better idea: Leave marijuana users alone and go do some real police work. Seriously, women are being sexually assaulted and going missing, kids are living with monstrous villains, people are sick on the street because prohibition has made the cities awash with smack and meth and crack, human trafficking abounds, corporate criminals are destroying the planet and evading taxes, and police walk around wasting time handing out marijuana fines, charges and warnings. On behalf of every pot user in Canada, I hereby reject your offer to lengthen our leash. We want equality with coffee drinkers, and we will not settle until we have it. Russell Barth, federally licensed medical marijuana user, Ottawa [end]
Re: Marijuana prohibition serves society, especially youth, Letters, Oct 10 As a federally licensed medical marijuana user, I have used pot daily for years. Currently I use 14 grams a day. I got out of a wheelchair five years ago, much to the surprise of doctors. I serve as an unpaid, 24/7 caregiver to my epileptic wife. Though I live with chronic pain, I am in better shape than I have been in 20 years. Most of that has to do with cannabis. [continues 60 words]
As a longtime and very public legalization advocate, I think pot should be banned from professional and amateur sports. Let's say two runners are injured in a race. One is from France, where cannabis is prohibited, and the other is from, say, California, where citizens can easily get a permit. The French competitor has no access to cannabis, but the Californian would have potentially endless amounts of pot at his disposal. Using pot for sports injuries speeds up recovery by lowering inflammation, lowering blood pressure, relieving pain and increasing oxygen to the blood. [continues 115 words]
Re: Liberals get it right with promise to legalize marijuana (Gravenhurst Banner, Feb. 1, 2012) As someone who has been up to his eyeballs in pot activism for nine years, I would classify this Liberal vote to legalize pot as nothing more than a bamboozle. The delegates did the right thing, but the party will not. Not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to campaign on this issue, because not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to explain to a voter what, exactly, "marijuana legalization" would even look like. [continues 214 words]
RE: Reader says Liberals get it right with promise to legalize marijuana, Forester Feb. 1 letter to the editor. As someone who has been up to his eyeballs in pot activism for nine years, I would classify this Liberal vote to legalize pot as nothing more than a bamboozle. The delegates did the right thing, but the party will not. Not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to campaign on this issue because not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to explain to a voter what, exactly, marijuana legalization would even look like! Ask one and see. They don't want to discuss the issue because they quickly find themselves in a conversational quagmire that they can't get out of. The media will also not let them campaign on this issue, as the media - - in general - has a well-established and long-standing anti-pot and pro-police bias. The coverage recently of the "pot not as bad as tobacco" study is a perfect example of that. The media continue to let people lie about the supposed dangers of pot (already debunked by science and history), and give th! e "right" a free ride when they talk wild hyperbole. I am 42 years old and I don't think I will ever see legalized pot in Canada - and I blame the media. If legal pot ever does come, it won't come through Parliament, it will come the same way same sex marriage, abortion, and medical marijuana became legal: through the courts. But then, there have already been seven court rulings that have effectively shot down the prohibition on pot, but the cops, the media, and other judges, simply ignore those rulings, and busts increase by 10,000 every year. So, really, I see little-to-no hope here. Russell Barth, soon-to-be-former federally licensed medical marijuana user. Russell Barth Nepean, ON [end]
Re: Liberals get it right with promise to legalize marijuana (Bracebridge Examiner, Feb. 1, 2012) As someone who has been up to his eyeballs in pot activism for nine years, I would classify this Liberal vote to legalize pot as nothing more than a bamboozle. The delegates did the right thing, but the party will not. Not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to campaign on this issue, because not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to explain to a voter what, exactly, "marijuana legalization" would even look like. [continues 217 words]
RE: Almaguin News, Feb. 2, Page 4, "Right promise to legalize marijuana" As someone who has been up to his eyeballs in pot activism for nine years, I would classify this Liberal vote to legalize pot as nothing more than a bamboozle. The delegates did the right thing, but the party will not. Not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to campaign on this issue because not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to explain to a voter what, exactly, marijuana legalization would even look like! [continues 223 words]
Re: Legalize weed, Grit delegates say (Jan. 16). As someone who has been up to his eyeballs in pot activism for nine years, I would classify this Liberal vote to legalize pot as a bamboozle. The delegates did the right thing, but the party will not. Not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to campaign on this issue because not one single Liberal candidate has the intelligence or the guts to explain to a voter what, exactly, "marijuana legalization" would even look like! (Ask one and see.) [continues 174 words]
Re: The myth of the potent pot, Nov. 14. Dan Gardner's column didn't mention that "more potent" pot is actually much safer because THC is a therapeutic agent, not a toxin. I use nine grams a day, and my prescription was recently increased to 16. The pot I use is among the finest, cleanest, and most potent in the world. I got out of a wheelchair, cured my restless leg, my sleep apnea, and my erectile dysfunction. I sleep better than I have in decades and I am stronger than I have been in years, so the idea that pot is dangerous because it is more potent is, to me, utter nonsense. [continues 113 words]
A recent story in this paper about city police busting a marijuana-growing operation includes another police-issued outrageous exaggeration of pot plant values. To say that 10 "starter plants" are worth $1,000 each is much like saying that a pile of rubber, metal, plastic and glass "is an automobile." Those plants would need 12-20 weeks of water, light, fertilizer, and TLC to fully mature, and, even then, each plant is likely to produce barely a half pound of dried bud. That is $600-$800 wholesale, depending on the quality. At "street prices" -- buying in one to eight gram packets -- it works out to "$1,000 a plant" but only because the prohibition on pot drives the prices up. [continues 92 words]
Re: "Let's send drug addicts to isolated work camps," Brian Purdy, Opinion, Sept. 8. Drugs are not the problem. Prohibition and prohibitionists are. What a disgusting and ill-informed screed from a man who is clearly trying to publicly endear himself to the punishment-fetishists who voted for this current government. It is true, though: We should be rounding up "stray animal" types into cages. Prohibitionists are like diseased, rabid animals eating away at society, causing death and misery and high costs because they approve of one drug but not another. They refuse to look at facts, science, history or reason. Russell Barth Nepean, Ont. [end]
Editor: Re: CRIME program to continue for now, Tuesday, Aug. 9 Tribune. "CRIME-subsidizing program to continue for now" would be a more accurate headline. The people most pleased about this "eradication" policy are the 90-95 per cent of growers who will never be caught. This colossal waste of time and money is not only failing to fix things, it is, in fact, outrageously counterproductive. If the police busted twice as many grow ops this year as last year, they would still only get about 20 per cent of them. One fifth. Probably less. And every time they bust one grow op -- indoor, outdoor, small or big -- all they do is make the ones they don't catch that much more valuable. [continues 221 words]
John Noakes said that he has had surgeries to deal with Crohn's disease. The irony being that if he had used cannabis to treat his Crohn's -- like many other people do -- he might not even need the surgeries. I know one guy who smokes a tiny little bit of pot a day, and he says "it is like my Crohn's is gone." But without that little tiny bit of pot, he said it feels like he has a gut full of broken glass. [continues 158 words]
Re: Drug testing before cheques, by D'Arcy M. Leader, July 29. As a federally licensed medical marijuana user who is also married to one, I find D'Arcy M. Leader's suggestion reprehensible in the extreme. Not only is it unworkable, it is counterproductive as it would actually stimulate crime. The suggestion demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of how addiction works and what it is like to struggle under said circumstances. It is also unconstitutional. I suggest D'Arcy M. Leader move to Florida. In fact, I would insist. Ontario doesn't need his type. Russell Barth, Nepean, Ont. [end]
Re: All we can offer Janet Goodin is a sincere apology (July 30). I feel bad that this lady was harangued, but at the same time, having a medical marijuana licence, I am forbidden entry into the U.S. One lady in B.C., who had no pot with her, had a sample of her DNA taken by U.S. officials and was told never to try entering the country again. She had never been charged with anything; she was being denied entry due to a medical condition. So as much as I sympathize with this woman, anyone crossing the Canada-U.S. border is walking on thin ice and should expect to get soaked. Nepean, Ont. [end]
Regarding the editorial Harper and the triumph of liberalism (July 19) in which Michael Den Tandt wrote, "Possession of small amounts of marijuana is no longer a criminal offence." Last summer, Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced a change to the law so that anything involving marijuana would be a serious offence, making it harder to plead out or even make bail. Harper also plans to violate numerous court rulings -- and the Charter -- by taking away people's right to grow pot for medical purposes. This will force sick people to use the government-issued ditch weed or go to the street. The medical marijuana program at Health Canada is dying and about to be shut down. Harper has won. Bullies always prevail. About half the public are cheering on this expensive, counterproductive, gangster-subsidizing war on freedom, and Den Tandt tells us Harper is becoming more "liberal"? Russell Barth Nepean [end]
Re: "Federal government to review medical marijuana program, eliminate abuse by criminals," July 22 Dear editor, Blake Richards avoids the real issues and muddies the waters in a deliberate attempt to discredit medical marijuana users. This is how bullies work. He says the government is proposing to "Create a new supply and distribution system for dried marijuana that uses only licensed commercial producers, to reduce the risk of abuse by criminal elements and lessen the jeopardy of fires and other public safety threats associated with home cultivation of medical marijuana." This is unconstitutional and unworkable. The government is flatly ignoring court rulings in this regard. It is also exaggerating the so-called dangers of pot-cultivation. Imagine if the cops came and took away your driver's license, and when you asked why, they said "Well, we have some unsubstantiated reports that some people may have been driving faster than the posted speed limit. So, to ensure public safety, we are taking away everyone's permits, and forcing everyone to use public transit." It is called "mass punishment," and is part of this government's ongoing commitment to cause suffering to the poor and the sick - and especially pot users. [continues 332 words]
To the Castlegar News editor, Re: 'Police strike new charter with schools and community groups' (June 30). Again with the D.A.R.E. nonsense? How many times does a program have to fail before it is abandoned? The problem with most drug "education" aimed at young people is that it mostly consists of fear-mongering: "Don't! Or you will get in medical, social, or legal trouble!" Indoctrinations, certificates, slogans, promises and vows -- all of it has proven to be of little help and at least some harm. Don't believe me? Since D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) first started in the mid-1980s, drug use among Canadian teens has quadrupled! [continues 338 words]
Regarding "Pot legalization getting closer," Daily News We Say, June 23: As a federally licensed medical marijuana user and as someone who has worked in the "legalization" movement for nine years, I can tell you this: pot will never, ever be legal. As long as there have been humans, there have been humans bent on controlling other humans. So as long as there are humans on earth, there will be some form of marijuana prohibition. It is a valuable medicine that competes -- and beats -- the pharmaceutical equivalents; so naturally, the prohibition on it will never end. [continues 263 words]
To the editor: I am responding to Richard K. Hode's letter, headlined Spying on neighbours bad, on page A12 of your May 18 edition. Mr. Hode is correct in comparing the modern pogrom on cannabis users and growers to the Spanish Inquisition. There are other similar comparisons throughout history (the East German's Stasi would be a better comparison). But the thing I find most frightening is a full half of our citizens will observe these similarities between the inquisition and the modern war on certain drugs - and still insist our modern war is valid and just. [This would include Prime Minister] Stephen Harper and his cabinet. [continues 133 words]
To the Editor, RE: OPP preparing for spring marijuana suppression strategy, Haliburton Echo, May 31 The people most pleased about this eradication policy are the 90 to 95 per cent of growers who will never be caught. This colossal waste of time and money is not only failing to fix things, it is, in fact, outrageously counterproductive. If the police busted twice as many grow ops this year as last year, they would still only get about 20 per cent of them, one-fifth - probably less. [continues 164 words]
"" Re: "Global war on drugs has failed" (Gazette, June 3). The war on certain drugs has not failed. Far from it. This war was never meant to be won. It was meant to be continuous. It was designed to reduce the civil rights and liberties of the general population, fill them with dread and fear and anger, accustom them to an ongoing and evergrowing police and military presence in people's daily lives, drain taxpayers' dollars, and keep lawyers rich, police officers busy, armies fed and jails full. [continues 76 words]
Re: 'Marijuana grower worried for future of medicinal pot' ( Daily News, May 25) I predict that the Harper regime will ignore the court rulings, ignore the Charter and shut the whole Health Canada program down by the end of the summer. They will cite "safety concerns," "diversion," and UN treaties that Canada has signed on to as reasons why the Liberals never should have started the program in the first place. Medical marijuana in Canada died on May 2. Compassion clubs? Designated growers? Home gardens? Pharmacy supply? Not a chance. As far as Harper and his minions are concerned, there is no such thing as "medical" marijuana. We are all just addicts who scammed their doctors. We are criminals, inmates-in-waiting. [continues 183 words]
Editor, The News: Re: MLA wants stronger rules for medical marijuana (The News, May 18). I don't know why everyone has their bum in a knot over the medical marijuana rules. This program will be shut down by the end of the summer, and so will every compassion club in the nation. The government will ignore court rulings, over-ride the Charter, and shut the doors over at Health Canada's medical marijuana offices. Then the RCMP - who already have all of our addresses and plant and storage data on file - will start rounding up former license holders. [continues 109 words]
To the Editor, Re: Questions raised by pot ruling, May 14. The Harper regime will ignore the court rulings, ignore the Charter, and shut the whole Health Canada program down by the end of the summer. They will site "safety concerns" and UN treaties that Canada has signed on to as reasons why the Liberals never should have started the program in the first place. Medical marijuana in Canada died on May 2. Compassion clubs? Designated growers? Home gardens? Pharmacy supply? Not a chance. [continues 135 words]
Re: "Marijuana not harmful? Not true" (Gazette, May 11). My wife and I each use more than nine grams of marijuana every day, and have used over five grams per day for more than five years. Our health has only continued to improve. I freed myself from the wheelchair to which I was tethered for 5 1/2 years, cured my sleep apnea in two weeks, and I am no longer impotent. My wife has been dealing with epilepsy and PTSD, and cannabis is the only thing that makes her life livable. A recent trip to the eye doctor has confirmed that her cannabis use has even improved her eyesight! [continues 79 words]
Re: If the Conservatives win a majority in the federal election, I want to alert Canadians that this would result in the complete closure of the medical marijuana program at Health Canada, and my likely death. Stephen Harper raged against the program when he was in opposition. His government hasn't managed, staffed or funded the program to give it a chance to succeed. Harper seems to hate medical marijuana users because we represent the "foot in the door" toward full legalization, so he will do everything he can to stop us. But he needs a majority to do it because he needs to override our Charter Rights in order to shut the program down. [continues 217 words]
Dear Editor, The problem Mr. Erbacher discusses reaches far beyond homeopathy [Pseudoscience dangerous, March 1 Letters, Langley Advance]. For example, many plants have medicinal properties, like garlic and ginseng and coffee, but overuse of those plants can cause sickness and even death. Water is good for you, but if you try to drink too much too fast, you can die. Nutmeg is harmless in low doses, but is a powerful hallucinogen in large doses, and a deadly poison in higher doses. [continues 306 words]
Re: If You Want a Spiritual High, Go to Church. In his comments about salvia, S. Klein ignores a number of facts: 1) Prohibition will make salvia more available to kids, not less available. This is a fact as indisputable as the shape of the planet. 2) Sold in stores, the product has some measure of quality control, and the vendors, unlike dealers, refuse to sell it to kids. What happens after it leaves the store is not their problem. 3) Salvia is non-toxic, non-addictive, and not fun enough to be used more than a few times, even by people who liked it. The government basically banned it because it is "fun," not because it poses any real danger to users or society. [continues 189 words]
Re: "DARE extends its reach with new program," (Aberni Valley Times, March 18) As a federally licenced medical marijuana user who is also married to one, I consider DARE nothing less than a government sponsored hate-crime. Also, the fact that taxpayers' dollars are used for this fear and fealty campaign is sick and reprehensible in the extreme. It should be illegal to go into schools and deliberately frighten and mislead kids, but no, we use taxpayers' dollars and send cops in to do it. It isn't just irresponsible, it is obscene. [continues 360 words]
To The Editor, RE: Addict helps students 'get real' Here is some reality for you, kids: Junk food will kill many times more Canadians this year than all illegal drugs combined. That cellphone at your ear is many times more likely to give you cancer than any of the drugs you might buy using it! I always find it amusing how someone who smokes pot a few times a week is dismissed as a "stoner", but some "former" multiple-drug addict comes to school and he treated like a wise old sage. [continues 503 words]
Re: Marijuana Users Seek Elusive Legitimacy (We Say editorial). The reason we have trouble attaining legitimacy is because of misinformation propaganda campaigns like this atrocious article! "They're entitled to their beliefs, but they aren't entitled to break the law." Even if the law is absurd, onerous, counterproductive, and is unconstitutional. The message being, "Just obey. That is all." The evidence supporting pot's ability to relieve pain is well documented, as is its safety and efficacy in treating many other conditions. The only reason some people still feel it is somehow dangerous is because people keep mentioning that is is somehow dangerous, but never fully prove it. Like this article. Nothing but fear-mongering bird-cage-liner. [continues 126 words]
Re: Feds eye ban on obscure herb (Feb. 22). This government sure loves to subsidize gangsters and endanger the public. Banning salvia will do for it what a ban has done for marijuana: make it more potent, contaminated, expensive and unregulated. It will be far easier for your kids to get salvia, because dealers never ask for ID, and instead of taxpaying shop-owners selling it, we will have it controlled by teens and gangsters. I have no doubt that this is by design. This government is not trying to protect Canadians. They are trying to manufacture inmates, using Canadians as the raw materials. How else can they justify building 12 new jails when crime is at a 33-year low? Nepean, Ont. [end]
To the editor: This letter is in response to the article "Recurring theme" posted on tbnewswatch.com on Jan. 20. "Nicholson said while critics of the bill say it targets the individuals who have become addicted or someone who has a few marijuana plants in their kitchen, he said it is solely about traffickers and is aimed specifically at organized crime." One pot plant in a rented unit will get you nine months mandatory jail time and making pot brownies will get you six months. Look it up. That is aimed at your kids, Canada, not organized crime. [continues 306 words]
Re Jon Ferry's column on smoking tobacco and marijuana: people who inhale marijuana are not "destroying" themselves. Marijuana is less harmful than table salt, coffee, chocolate or cellphones, so comparing it even to tobacco is absurd. Telling kids to never use certain drugs is like telling them to never see a certain genre of movie, never go to an amusement park or exotic country, or never do anything at all that may be both risky and fun. It teaches them to be afraid of new things, instead of curious. And as history has shown, fortune favours the adventurous. Sensible, moderate, well-informed drug use is no more harmful, dangerous or immoral than any one of dozens of other activities humans participate in every day. Russell Barth, Nepean, Ont. [end]
Re: Police seizing homes, cars, to deter crime (NewsLeader, Dec. 22) The only people the cops are "hurting" are the ones who get caught. The other 95-98 per cent of pot growers, meth makers and drug dealers simply profit off the increased business that keeps coming their way. With every bust, with every new sanction, the police are subsidizing the guys they don't catch--and they know it. This leads me to wonder just which side of the law the cops are really on. [continues 141 words]
Re: "Good luck, Mike," letter to the editor, Friday, Jan. 14. Harold Bridge has a lot of gall suggesting that marijuana corrupts people. All -- yes, all -- available evidence shows that it is the prohibition of marijuana which is the thing causing all the crime, not the plant itself. As for marijuana being an "illegal substance," there have been a number of court rulings that have basically legalized weed by striking down the prohibition on pot as unconstitutional, which is how legal medical marijuana licensed from Health Canada came to exist. [continues 81 words]
Re: "Boomers, toking has gone digital," Teviah Moro, column, Jan. 15 Can we please stop using the word "dope" when it comes to cannabis? The word's origins have nothing to do with being "dopey," but the word implies that people who smoke it are dumb when they are using it, or dumb for even trying. This is scientifically and historically inaccurate, and it serves to stigmatize marijuana users further -- especially federally licensed users like my wife and I. This makes it difficult for us to get work, secure housing, or have people take us seriously. Funny how videos of people smoking pot raises eyebrows, but some 300-pound moron paints himself blue and white and gets royally tanked on beer in front of everyone's kids at the NHL game -- that is just Canadian tradition. There is a word for that. Russell Barth, Nepean [end]
It should be obvious to everyone now that what Stephen Harper has planned is a U.S.-style, for-profit prison system. This policy has been wildly successful in the U.S.: increased crime and violence, the largest prison population in the history of mankind, huge debt, and a handful of wealthy jailers getting even wealthier on the taxpayers' dime. This is what Harper wants for Canada. He has already changed the laws to make anything involving marijuana a "serious" crime, making it harder for your kid to make bail or get plea bargains. He is about to pass S-10, which will impose mandatory jail time for growing one pot plant in a rented unit, and six months jail for making pot brownies! That is aimed at your kid, obviously, and not the Hell's Angels. [continues 172 words]
Re. "Bill enjoys broad-based support," Letters, The Chief, Dec. 17. I noticed first that Weston refers to me as a "licensed drug user" -- as opposed to "Licensed Medical Marijuana User" -- in an effort to discredit everything I have said or will say. This is a typical prohibitionist tactic, implying that because I use marijuana as prescribed by my doctor, everything I say is nonsense. This is not historically, medically, or scientifically accurate, but Weston uses this disgraceful and discriminatory tactic because he knows that what I say can be proven, so he has to "shoot the messenger." Notice also that he makes sure to point out that I am from Ontario, as if I am some sort of "outsider" who will not be affected by this bill. [continues 446 words]
Editor, The News: Re: Maple Ridge pot dispensary grows to 200 members (The News, Dec. 31). I am sure the RCMP will be along soon to protect those 200 criminals from the dangers of pain-and-nausea-relief and throw them all into cages to get healthy. Russell Barth Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User Drug Reform Analyst and Consultant Educators for Sensible Drug Policy [end]
Re: Cannabis Clarity, letter to the editor, Dec. 24. The "link" between marijuana use and psychosis is nothing more than that -- a link. The studies that show this link point out that it is equally as likely that the use of cannabis may have been caused by the symptoms, not vice versa. There is no evidence to support the notion that cannabis "causes" anything. Furthermore, pot use in Canada has quadrupled in the past 30 years, and the potency of pot has increased significantly. Yet the rate of schizophrenia has remained the same, at about 1.1% of the population. Where is the influx of new pot-induced mental patients clogging up our hospitals? Nonexistent. The best reason to legalize pot is to continue researching its vast cancer-fighting potential. Russell Barth, federally licensed medical marijuana user, Nepean, Ont. [end]
In regard to the Dec. 9 letter from Rade Kovacevic, Cannabis Use Must Be Looked At From A Broad Prospective, he said: "We as a community do not look at these issues from a broad enough viewpoint." That is because we, as a community, believe liars. When it comes to marijuana, police, government, churches, and most so-called experts in the addiction racket simply lie. They know that the large majority of people will never read past the headlines, or cross-reference information, or bother to look anything up on Google, so they just lie. They know that if they say marijuana is bad and prohibition is good over and over again, the public will simply buy it. Why wouldn't they? They have been buying these lies fore over 100 years. Today, the truth is available 24/7 online, and people still think pot is evil. [continues 57 words]
Editor: The problem with police-inflicted "education" is that it consists of lies and fear-mongering and is very short on factual information. As a federally licensed medical marijuana user who is also married to one, I will come right out and say that this is nothing more than a government-sponsored hate-crime no less virulent than revisionist Holocaust denial. If cops went into schools preaching one religion over another, there would be a public outcry. But cops go into schools and scare kids into joining their abstinence cult, and it is funded by taxpayers! [continues 595 words]
Re: Harper rocks Tory party with musical performance, Dec. 9 Why does no one notice that Stephen Harper keeps singing songs by people who used a lot of marijuana (John Lennon, Mick Jagger, et al.), but he is now passing laws designed to put even casual pot users in jail? Russell Barth, Nepean [end]
To the editor: Re.: Springvalley Students Aim To Resist Bad Choices, Dec. 8 Capital News. I am a federally licensed medical marijuana user. If cops went into schools preaching one religion over another, there would be a public outcry. But cops go into schools and scare kids into joining their abstinence cult, and it is funded by taxpayers. Do these cops tell kids that junk food will kill many times more Canadians each year than all illegal drugs combined? Do they tell kids that even in their current, dirty, "street" form, drugs like coke, heroin and meth are still safer, less addictive, and less statistically deadly than either booze or tobacco? [continues 438 words]
MP John Weston says that his proposed anti-drug bill would reduce drug production, ostensibly by scaring dealers away from the business with the threat of jail time and other sanctions. The problem with this policy is that the exact opposite will result. Dealers are not scared by anything, and they are highly adaptable. When stiffer sentences are imposed, or enforcement is increased, the business shifts to the 95 per cent of dealers and producers who will never be caught. All studies support this. No science supports the Tory policy on drugs. Sure, we put some "bad guys" in jail, which is supposed to "send a message" to the other guys who are nothing but delighted at the police's zeal. If we can't catch them all, we are only helping the ones we don't catch. [continues 147 words]
Editor, The News: Re: Forfeitures hitting criminals where it hurts (The News, Dec. 3) Forfeitures may be hitting the criminals who get caught "where it hurts" , but for the 95 to 98 per cent of growers who will never be caught, this is actually a big subsidy. The illegality of marijuana makes it lucrative. Added pressure in the form of increased enforcement makes it even more lucrative for the ones who never get caught, which leads me to wonder, just which side of the law the cops are really on. [continues 108 words]
Editor: RE: Million dollar grow op raided Here is a letter that a dealer would send to this article: "oeDear police: Thanks large for cutting down all those pot plants. Tearing out five to 10 per cent of the area's pot crop each year secures our continued funding like no other policy. Legalizing pot would cripple us, because everyone who wanted to could simply grow some in their yards, and that would put us right out of business. But your ongoing eradication efforts secure future customers coming to us for this oh-so-easy-to-grow medicinal herb. [continues 254 words]
Barth, Russell
