DRUG POLICIES QUESTIONABLE

How can we continue to say that the use and sale of cannabis should be
regarded as criminal when other drugs we drink and inhale every day
are even more of a problem (Back off busting B.C. bud, Forum, July
22)? Marijuana also has real benefits as a medicine for certain health
problems, some quite serious.

How tragic the cost to society on so many levels that some police
forces continue to demonize marijuana by pushing false information
about the true nature of the substance.

Even the RCMP and Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have
endorsed decriminalization of marijuana possession. Why isn't their
recommendation, and the wisdom of Neil Boyd and many other experts
like him, taken seriously.

The hundreds of millions spent annually on continued prohibition could
be spent on health care.

KATHLEEN SCHLOESSINGER

Ladysmith