DON'T LET THE GOVERNMENT CAPITALIZE: LEGALIZE!

Cockburn Far Out

Lyn Cockburn, your most recent column (Marijuana law a bummer, man,
Aug. 1) is glorious!

We will fight until they legalize it and stop all the idiotic demonizing.

Now we have our own government wanting to take over the pot industry
from the bikers, etc.

As Marc Emery said, the very people who have been persecuting us for
decades now wants to run the biggest medical pot racket in the
country.

I don't think so...

Steve Vandekemp

Brantford, Ont.

(Lyn says, "Thanks dude," but she says it cautiously.)

Marijuana Madness

Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in
need, but adult recreational use should be regulated as well. The
reason for this is simple: Leaving the distribution of popular
recreational drugs in the hands of organized crime puts children at
great risk.

Unlike legitimate businesses that sell liquor, illegal drug dealers
do not check IDs for age, but they do push profitable, addictive
drugs like heroin when given the chance.

Politicians need to stop worrying about the message drug policy
reform sends to children and start thinking about the children
themselves. At present Canadian tax dollars are being wasted on
anti-drug strategies that only make marijuana growing more
profitable. The drug war's distortion of basic supply and demand
dynamics makes an easily grown weed literally worth its weight in
gold.

With money practically growing on trees any illegal grow operations
destroyed will be replaced.

There are cost-effective alternatives to the failed drug war. In
Europe, the Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by
replacing marijuana prohibition with regulation.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets and establishing age
controls for marijuana has proven more effective than zerotolerance.
As the most popular illicit drug in Canada, marijuana provides the
black market contacts that introduce users to drugs like heroin. This
"gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes
no sense to waste tax dollars on policies that finance organized
crime groups like the Hells Angels and facilitate the use of deadly
hard drugs.

If you are interested in a comparison of Dutch vs. U.S. rates of drug
use one can be found at:

http://www.netherlands-embassy.org/c_drugstat.html.

Robert Sharpe
Program Officer
The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation
Washington, DC