DECRIMINALIZING POT GROWTH WOULD PAY OFF

Superior Court Justice Richard Gates said, "this was anything but the
benign cultivation of a crop for personal use. It had the hallmarks of
a criminal enterprise with a sinister result. ... Windsor and Essex
County are beset by grow operations that are spreading like a
cancerous evil."

I'm sure Justice Gates is well aware that benign or not, growing even
a single plant for personal use is a criminal offence. Therefore,
hundreds of thousands of marijuana users prefer the lower risk of
purchasing from those who are willing to risk growing. It is, in fact,
the prohibition of growing for personal use that is directly
responsible for the proliferation of this "cancerous evil."

Wouldn't it make sense to allow people to grow a few plants for
personal use only? No -- it's much better to waste millions of
taxpayer dollars in the futile effort to eliminate the supply through
police action; to divert scores of police officers from prevention and
investigation of real crimes in order to pursue unauthorized gardeners
and to trigger the continuing violence -- including police violence --
that is the inevitable result of prohibition.

George Kosinski

Gibsons, B.C.