SEED SELLER AND SENATOR STIR THE POT IN THE DEBATE ABOUT ILLEGAL DRUGS

Like Senator Larry Campbell, I, too, ask why? Why do we continue --
against the advice of those who have investigated the problem,
including police officers -- on the same ineffectual path to stop the
trafficking in marijuana? If the estimated street value of B.C.'s
annual marijuana crop is more than $7 billion, it appears that there
exists a robust demand despite the law and that we continue to bleed
the treasury and increase the violence among rival suppliers by trying
to interrupt this trade.

Just legalize pot, license it, sell it through the Liquor Control
Board, tax it, and with some of the proceeds conduct a fierce campaign
in the high schools showing the ugly results of using crack cocaine
and other hard drugs, as we did with tobacco use.

I write as a concerned citizen, a taxpayer, a non-user, a senior and a
person who lived in Berkeley, Calif., from 1959 to 1968 without seeing
any adverse effect on friends and colleagues who seemed to thrive
despite the availability of marijuana.

D'Anne Davis

Vancouver