LEGALIZING DRUGS GETS RID OF GANGS

Re: Get rid of drugs, get rid of the gangs, Free Press, August 8.

Arthur Williams has it backwards: we don't need to get rid of drugs,
we need to get rid of drug prohibition.

The drugs will never, ever go away, and it is naive to think
otherwise. Humans have been altering their feelings and thoughts with
psychotropic substances since before there was even language. It isn't
"drugs" making gangsters rich, it is the prohibition thereof that
turns easy-to-grow weeds and easily combined chemicals into wildly
lucrative commodities. Just Google the name Al Capone if you are not
clear on the mechanics of prohibition.

Meanwhile, junk food will kill and injure many times more Canadians
this year than all illegal drugs combined. If we want to 'crack down'
on death merchants, we should begin with the store owners who sell
sugar, salt, caffeine, energy drinks, and fatty snacks to our kids!

There is also a misconception in our society that suggests that only
drug-abstinence is to be encouraged and admired. Telling people to
never use certain drugs is like telling them to never see a certain
genre of movie, never go to an amusement park or exotic country, never
alleviate their suffering, or never do anything at all that may be
both risky and fun. It teaches them to be afraid of new things,
instead of curious, and, as history has shown, fortune favours the
adventurous.

Sensible, moderate, well-informed drug use is no more harmful,
dangerous, or immoral than any one of dozens of other activities
humans participate in every day - including sports.

The way Arthur Williams puts it, the cure for the woes caused by
prohibition is - more prohibition. Sort of like trying to douse a fire
with gasoline. There's a real no-brainer for you.

RUSSELL BARTH

Federally licensed medical marijuana user

Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis