UNWANTED LAW

I write regarding Powell River school board's concern over the lenient
approach by the courts regarding marijuana use ["They protest," At the
school board table, October 30].

It may come as a surprise to school board members that an Angus-Reid
poll of November 1997 shows that two out of three British Columbians
want criminal penalties against marijuana removed completely.

In fact, if the BC initiative system in the "Recall and Initiative
Act" were not a fraud, enforcement of this law in BC would be history.
A law that is unwanted by two out three voters can quite correctly be
regarded as a tyranny.

If members of this school board truly want tighter control of the
marijuana industry, they should start by questioning why there are no
adolescents are trafficking in alcohol at schools and why there are no
"dealers" selling six-packs of beer on street corners. The answer is
that alcohol is "regulated" and marijuana is not. And a "regulated"
market, by definition, can not exist via prohibition. Once the school
board members come to grips with another law: that of "supply and
demand," the failure of the present law regarding marijuana becomes
quite predictable.

Vigorous enforcement of an unwanted law cannot be allowed in a
democracy. My homework assignment for these school board members is to
visit the school library and do some studying in the fields of alcohol
prohibition and democracy. Those who do not learn from history are
doomed to repeat it .

Chuck Beyer
Victoria, BC