IT'S TIME TO END THE WAR ON MARIJUANA

Editor, The News:

Re: Don't legalize pot (letters, May 9).

Although pleased to see 13-year-old Jeremie Geschke writing to your paper,
in this case his thinking is cloudy.

As he says, "Cannabis ... contains over 360 different chemicals," as do
most foods. The rest of letter concerns the bad effects of cannabis - all,
by the way, from anecdotal evidence or from results of using one chemical -
THC - on animals in a laboratory. The World Health Organisation itself
points out in their report that those results are far different from what
is seen in human populations who smoke the pure plant.

But the real cloudiness is in the idea that keeping cannabis illegal will
somehow reduce harm and damage, for all the problems occur under cannabis
prohibition.

Legalisation of the plant would take the supply away from people who may
sell polluted or dirty cannabis concoctions or hard drugs. It would enable
advice to be given to users. It would both save public expense by freeing
up police and court time, and increase government revenue through taxation
on profits. It would enable people who need the plant for medical purposes
to buy or grow cannabis safely without having to enter the world of crime.
It would enable more investment and research into one of the most versatile
and efficacious plants on Earth.

If indeed anyone suffers terribly from ill effects, one thing is sure -
arresting them will not help.

Alun Buffry
Legalise Cannabis Alliance
(UK Political Party)
Norwich, England

Editor, The News:

I invite Jeremie to consider the following questions.

1. Why is it that some people think the government has the right to punish
people for what they choose to ingest into their own bodies, whether or not
the substance in question is harmful?

2. Why are some drugs banned while others just as harmful allowed?

3. When a drug is banned, does the number of users harmed increase or
decrease or stay the same?

4. When a drug is banned, does organized crime increase or decrease or stay
the same?

5. When a drug is banned, do government costs increase or decrease or stay
the same?

6. When a drug is banned, does police corruption increase, decrease or stay
the same?

7. If drugs were legalized, would the spread of infectious diseases such as
HIV and hepatitis increase, decrease or stay the same?

Jeremie has done a wonderful job absorbing the anti-marijuana propaganda
put out by the media and governments that have vested interests in
prolonging drug prohibition. Now, it's time for him to examine the other
side. Good luck!

Alan Randell
Victoria