MAKE IT LEGAL AND TAKE AWAY THE SCOURGE OF THE GROW-OP

It is indeed stunning to discover that Chilliwack is spending more
than $1 million per year to fight marijuana grow-ops. While "it may be
heartening to know there is an army of unpaid volunteers behind the
ongoing battle," it's equally disheartening to know that there are
still many people in responsible positions seemingly oblivious to the
fact that the vast majority of grow-ops can be made to disappear =AD
at no cost =AD by the simple act of making it legal for individuals to
grow a few marijuana plants for personal use.

It's also puzzling why Sharon Gaetz is a member of this Public Safety
Advisory Committee (re: `Tough love for troublemakers,' Progress, July
9). Assuming the Southside Church, of which she is the pastor, is a
Christian church, how can she support marijuana prohibition when Jesus
turned water into wine in order to provide a recreational drug for a
wedding party?

And why do these city officials insist on harping on the unattainable
"ideal of a drug-free community" in a society where legal drugs
constitute a multi-billion dollar industry, especially when many users
of pharmaceutical drugs would probably be better off using marijuana
instead to ease their ailments?

George Kosinski