CUT TAXES, SMOKE A JOINT

Editor:

Open letter to James Moore, MP:

Thank you for the recent mail-out entitled, "Dion's tax on everything."

I would like to draw to your attention the extraordinary amount of
taxpayer dollars being spent on enforcing the marijuana laws under
the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. "Dion's tax on everything"
is nothing compared to the amount of money the government would save
if the marijuana laws were repealed.

As an example, I can think of one local small-time marijuana dealer
caught with 11 ounces of marijuana who was sentenced to two years in
a federal prison. Taxpayers paid the RCMP to investigate and arrest
this person. taxpayers paid for court proceedings. Taxpayers paid for
the incarceration. All said and done, what is the total cost to
taxpayers for one small-time offender, somewhere around $500,000?

Extrapolate that across Canada, and the total cost to taxpayers of
enforcing the marijuana laws is so astronomical, the the hundreds of
millions or even billions of dollars, that no self-respecting Tory
could fail to see the great fiscal injustice being imposed on
Canadian taxpayers in the name of anti-marijuana politics. If your
party is truly concerned about fiscal responsibility and reducing
taxes, then you should do the right thing.

Repeal the marijuana laws (as soon as Bush is gone), redirect RCMP
funding to preventing and fighting violent crime, and pass the rest
of the savings on to the taxpayers.

David Dickinson

Hazelton