JAILING MARIJUANA GROWERS IS A PROVEN FAILURE

Re: Crack down on growers of marijuana: Runciman, Nov. 4.

Are politicians ignorant before we elect them, or do they become wilfully
so afterwards?

The proposal by Ontario's minister of public safety and security, Bob
Runciman, to incarcerate marijuana farmers is a case in point. If Mr.
Runciman truly used his wits and had a sense of history, he'd know that his
blunt approach to prohibition doesn't work. The imposition of one's moral
vision in spite of the immutability of the laws of economics is why
cannabis is literally worth its weight in gold.

Clearly, the attempt by the United States to jail its way to victory in the
drug war has been a big fat failure. Can Mr. Runciman provide any research
to prove that his war on cannabis would be any different?

Someone once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again
in the expectation of a different result. It's not a panacea, but I'll take
cannabis regulation over Mr. Runciman's blatant demagoguery any day.

Carey Ker,

Toronto