SUPPORT FOR GIL PRUDER'S TAKE ON MARIJUANA

What a wonderful and uplifting surprise to see the letter in the paper from
Gil Puder. A letter like that on the subject of marijuana from anyone would
have been welcome, but coming from a police officer, and an instructor as
well, left me elated, and hopeful. Gil is obviously very intelligent, and
after speaking with him on the phone, I know him to be very very well
informed on the subject. I also feel somewhat vindicated, as I have
recently been the subject of our overzealous police force. Many taxpayers
dollars were spent on investigating me, raiding my house and invading me and
my family's privacy, and putting together a case against me for growing
marijuana.

Officer Puder couldn't have been more right in his assertion that the great
body of evidence shows that marijuana is not significantly harmful, and in
fact has many positive effects; many of which are medical but obviously,
from the wide range of users in our society and the numbers which just keep
increasing, there are many psychological benefits as well.

When one looks at how little time it takes a pharmaceutical company to have
new psychoactive drugs on the market, it is easy to see the hypocrisy. Our
youth are being put on drugs to change their behaviour, simply because they
do not accept or fit in with the school stystems. And yet, after decades of
research and hundreds of millions of willing test subjects have shown that
marijuana is not a health hazard mentally or physically, we will spend 70%
of a billion dollar budget on persecuting and prosecuting adults. What a
travesty. Alcohol and tobacco are still easily available to our youth, not
to mention the general public, and yet between the two of them, they kill
more people every year than all other illnesses combined, not to mention the
mayhem that alcohol causes in our society and homes. And our police and
justice system is supposed to be based on weight of evidence!

There are some out there that point to the prevalent use of marijuana by our
youth, to show how addictive and bad marijuana is. The reason so many young
people smoke pot, is that they feel so helpless, confused and discouraged by
the state of society around them. Everything from the economy, the
environment, the institutionalized schools and the lack of real care by
society and in many cases the parents themselves contribute to this.
Besides, pot makes them feel good, relaxed and doesn't have the negative
effects that alcohol has.

So, keep these letters coming. Send letters to politicians, and get those
friends who are dentists, lawyers,
teachers, bus drivers, shop owners, police officers, etc. to speak up. This
has to stop. Pot smokers are not criminals.

Keith Light,
Winlaw