U.S. DRUG WAR COSTLY WASTE

What makes Robert Maginnis (U.S. sliding down the drug slope, Aug. 13)
think that Canada is going to let the U.S. dictate drug policy to it? The
U.S. lost its seat on the 13-member International Narcotics Control Board
for a reason. Our current drug policy is a failure.

The current global trend is to move away from the American "do drugs-do
time" drug policy model, especially as it pertains to marijuana. It is not
a war on drugs. It is a war on drug users, especially those from
underprivileged and minority groups, driven by ignorance and fear and waged
with lies.

In Canada, strong public and political support now favours removing
criminal penalties for pot possession. Nearly 50 per cent of the public
favours legalizing it -- up from 24 per cent in 1990 -- and the House of
Commons recently voted to commence an 18-month inquiry to study the issue.
A decision on the study is expected by November 2002.

Editors of the prestigious Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ)
urged lawmakers to decriminalize marijuana, a position that is also
advocated by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

A recent study in the respected medical journal the Lancet concluded that
"moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect on health."
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction,
2000 Annual Report on the State of the Drugs Problem in the European Union,
the countries that have decriminalized/legalized have one quarter the crime
and drug use by youth than that of the U.S.

If cannabis was regulated and taxed, the U.S. would save the $50 billion
spent per year on the drug war and pick up tens of billions of dollars per
year in tax revenue.

Larry W. Seguin

Lisbon, New York

Myths Used To Justify Marijuana Prohibition

In his Aug. 13 column, Robert Maginnis cites the Dutch experience of
increased tourism as reason to fear marijuana regulation. Apparently all
the good reefer madness myths have been discredited. Maginnis is left with
raising the spectre of American tourists to scare Canadian policymakers.

As vice-president of the U.S.-based Family Research Council, Maginnis
should know that Dutch rates of drug use are significantly lower than U.S.
rates in every category. Perhaps what Maginnis really fears most is the
inevitable derailment of the drug war gravy train. Maginnis is one of many
culture warriors who makes it their business to dictate what people can put
in their bodies. Make no mistake, North America's marijuana laws are based
on culture and xenophobia, not health outcomes. The first marijuana laws
were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s. An
Edmonton woman writing under the pen name Janey Canuck first warned
Canadians about the dread marijuana and its association with non-white
immigrants. Whites did not even begin to smoke marijuana until a soon-to-be
entrenched government bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

The direct experience of millions contradicts the sensationalistic myths
used to justify marijuana prohibition. Like alcohol prohibition once did,
marijuana prohibition causes tremendous societal harm, while failing
miserably at preventing use. There may soon come a time in Canada wherein
proof of age is required to buy marijuana and smokers no longer come into
contact with pushers of hard drugs. Instead of jail, marijuana's worst
side-effect will be an abundance of American tourists.

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A.

Program Officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Mired In Mudpit Of Drug Prohibition

It was entertaining to read how Robert Maginnis, who represents the Family
Research Council lobby group, attempted to demonize Canada in his recent
article. The status-quo spin doctors have resorted to trying to portray
Canadian medical marijuana regulations as a "slippery slope," while
conveniently ignoring the greased waterslide that the U.S.-sponsored War on
Drugs has led us down for nearly a century, resulting in militarized
police, asset forfeiture and other dubious programs that have gutted our
respective constitutions -- and have made little progress in ending the
drug problem.

Thankfully, as much as Mr. Maginnis hates to hear it, the reality is that
cannabis prohibition will be history in Canada very soon. Courts are
throwing out "reefer madness" propaganda as a basis to criminalize harmless
conduct, and the government has even made a few feeble steps toward a
responsible, reasonable drug policy. Perhaps Canada can, by pursuing its
own policies based on science and compassion, toss a rope to help Uncle
Sam, who to the rest of the world seems hopelessly mired in a
prohibitionist mudpit.

Timothy J. Meehan

Toronto, Ont.