TORIES ARE ALL ABOUT 'REEFER MADNESS,' NOT SCIENCE

The Editor:

The Tories refuse to finance research into something that is already
known to be a viable and valuable medicine -- medical marijuana, but
they will spend even more money on a policy that has repeatedly
proven to be a complete and utter failure -- marijuana prohibition.

Marijuana is the safest and most versatile medicinal herb in the
world, with dozens of medical applications.

But the Tories don't want to spend any money on this new and rapidly
growing field of medical research. Probably because of the clear and
present threat it poses to the bottom line of Big Pharma.

They will, however, spend more than $4 million hiring more cops to
tear down grow-ops -- a policy that has repeatedly proven to be a
counter-productive failure.

This policy helps cops and gangsters, and costs the rest of us a
fortune every year.

How much money do they plan to spend, I wonder, on factually
inaccurate "educational" programs or advertising campaigns about the
"dangers" of marijuana aimed at kids?

A lot more than $4 million, I'll bet. Is this really the kind of
backwards thinking, ideologically driven, "effective spending" that
we can expect from the Tory government?

Is this what we want for Canada -- a U.S.-style return to the 1950s
and "reefer madness?"

Russell Barth

Federal Medical Marijuana License Holder

Ottawa