CANADA HAS SEEN THE LIGHT ON MARIJUANA USE

While drug czar John P. Walters and the Drug Enforcement Administration are
stridently reviving the old, discredited reefer madness exaggerations of
marijuana's harmfulness, our neighbor to the north -- Canada -- is sensibly
and responsibly heading in the opposite direction.

Recently, the Canadian Senate Report on Marijuana -- after a two-year
intensive study -- recommended legalization, and similarly the House of
Commons report recommended decriminalization of personal use of small
amounts of marijuana.

Additionally, Canada has legalized medicinal use of marijuana under close
medical supervision.

Canada also legalized the growing of industrial hemp -- the
non-psychoactive strain of the same cannabis plant.

These are all in keeping with trends in most Western European countries
which have de facto decriminalized personal use of marijuana.

At a time when budget deficits have sent legislators scurrying for programs
to cut, the obvious prime target for the ax should be the failed, wasteful
marijuana prohibition.

Fred Mayer, Tenino