STONED SOBER

Re: Stoned by jury (NOW, November 16-22). As a federal medical
marijuana licence holder who is also married to one, and as a public
medical marijuana activist in Ottawa, I'm often asked about the laws
regarding marijuana. No political party, not even the NDP or the
Greens, will ever present or pass a cannabis regulation act. I
predict that, just like abortion and same-sex marriage, Canada's
marijuana laws will fall in the courts. If history is any indication,
the government will then respond by throwing slapdash legislation
together to regulate it that will please no one. In the meantime,
gangsters, cops and government officials get what they want, the
taxpayers pay billions every year to subsidize gangs and fill courts
and jails, and chronically ill Canadians get stuck in the middle.

Russell Barth

Ottawa