POT EDITORIAL FUELS FIRE IN READERS

Dear Editor,

Marijuana, Marijuana, Marijuana. Good, now that I have your attention
. . . Usually, I tend to gloss over the type of letter Chris Buors
wrote [Tokers stoked, April 13, Feature Letter, Advance News] and
continue reading your newspaper.

However certain as I was while reading his letter that he wasn't
involved in any "illegal" activity, oh such as, say, smoking pot - my
certainty stopped as I finished this sentence: "Cannabis users are the
most persecuted persons on planet Earth."

Perhaps Mr. Buors ought to finish high school before making such
ridiculous statements. I am not speaking of Mr. Buors's poor grammar,
but laughing at his premise of fact that cannabis users are
persecuted, let alone stopped by our police.

It seems even pot growers in this province don't even get charged any
more, just shut down. I think many people,including myself, find it
hard to believe that they are "persecuted" as defined in a dictionary.

It's not as though Mr. Buors is being thrown in a lion's den if an
officer catches him with pot. And if he is in danger of being lion
lunch, he can drop me a line and I will join his crusade against
persecution.

That is, if you ever catch me smoking pot, I will. And let it be said
that if a marijuana party ever rigs the election this spring so they
win in my riding, I will be heading up the "MLA recall" petitions
across town.

Jonathan Maryniuk
Murrayville

Canada a beacon of hope

Dear Editor,

While I share your surprise at Chris Buors' offer to meet Troy
Landreville on the field of honour to settle which of them is the
better man, Mr. Buors' frustration is understandable [Tokers stoked,
April 13, Feature Letter response, Advance News].

Mr. Landreville's piece [Politicians gone to pot, April 6, Comment,
Advance News] didn't amuse Mr. Buors any more than an allegedly
humorous piece about watermelon-eating among African-Americans would
have amused a black man.

I think you miss the point when you say, ". . . anyone who compares
the almost ineffectual anti-pot laws in this country to religious
persecution that has killed millions of people should lay off the
green stuff for awhile."

I hope you don't believe that one day the Germans were living happily
with their Jewish neighbours and the next day they were loading cattle
cars for Auschwitz. The run-up to the Holocaust started slowly, with
almost imperceptible limitations of the civil rights of Jews, and
progressed from there to seizure of property, ghettoization, and the
mandatory wearing of yellow stars. Only after years of persecution did
the mass exterminations start.

In the United States, many politicians have spoken out for the death
penalty for marijuana traffickers.

Darryl Gates, former police chief of Los Angeles and founder of
D.A.R.E., has said that "casual drug users should be taken out and
shot" as traitors in the war on drugs. His sentiments are echoed by
many Americans who believe that drug users are essentially sub-human
and would be better off dead. And many drug users here have been
killed by police, by other criminals, and by neglect.

The death toll isn't yet as striking as the Holocaust's, but if we
continue to support the war on drugs, it's just a matter of time until
it mounts into the millions.

I hope Canada holds firm to its more humane approach to drug policy.
You are a beacon of hope to us down here in the States.

Ray Aldridge via e-mail

Not funny

Dear Mr. Landreville,

Regarding Troy Landreville's humorous remarks, concerning the
Marijuana Party [Politicians gone to pot, April 6, Advance News], I'd
like to offer a kind suggestion.

I'd like him to consider just how humorous this issue is, should armed
law enforcement officers, acting on an anonymous tip, break down his
front door, with weapons drawn, guns pointed at him or his loved ones.

Still think this is a funny issue?

Lee Eisenstein
Watsonville, California

Make it legal

Dear Editor,

I think that Cannabis should be legalized.

Eugene Hines via e-mail

Pot users persecuted

Dear Editor,

You mentioned that cannabis users should not compare themselves to
others in history who found themselves being wrongly persecuted by
authority [Tokers stoked, April 13, Feature Letter, Advance News].

Those who have had their homes ransacked and their property and
freedom taken because they enjoy the benefits of the plants either for
recreational purposes or the medicinal side effects, have every right
to feel unjustly persecuted.

Having their pets shot by authorities, doors broken down, and their
children stolen, and being cursed at and thrown roughly to the floor
(pregnant or not) and had a knee or foot on their neck while they are
being shackled and hauled away to a cage like a dangerous animal,
might tend to disagree with you about whether they should feel
persecuted or not.

While they aren't being subjected to the literal Iron Maiden or
literal crucifixion, indeed, cannabis users are being "persecuted",
according to the Wordsmyth Dictionary.

Amanda Jones
Sulphur Springs, Texas