SHOULD POT BE LEGALIZED? YES

DUSAN PETRICIC/TORONTO STAR One side says prohibition is more harmful than
marijuana itself. The other side sees no reason to legalize and lots of
reasons not to.

The time has come to end the war on marijuana.

There are about 2 million marijuana users in Canada, and well over 200
million of us worldwide. We are ordinary people from all walks of life. We
are your friends and family, your teachers, your students, your leaders and
your citizens.

Medical experts and scientific studies agree that marijuana users are
decent people who are no different from other members of society. Despite
this, billions of dollars are spent every year in a worldwide attempt to
eradicate marijuana and viciously persecute its users.

YES Each year about 100,000 Canadians are arrested for a marijuana offence.
More than 30,000 of them are found guilty, and about 6,000 of them are
sentenced to jail. This pointless and wasteful system has branded more than
600,000 Canadians with the life-long stigma of a criminal record, simply
for possessing marijuana.

Right now hundreds of thousands of people are in prison for marijuana
offences around the world. In many cases violent criminals were released to
make room for these peaceful gardeners and pot smokers.

This government prohibition is a scourge that creates violence, tears apart
families, ruins lives, corrupts law enforcement, overflows the justice
system, destabilizes governments and brutalizes society.

Despite decades of propaganda, most Canadians accept marijuana users as
decent, law-abiding citizens. Polls consistently show that Canadians want
marijuana removed from criminal law. A recent Angus Reid poll revealed that
an astounding 83 per cent want marijuana available for medical use.

Numerous scientific studies have verified the efficacy of marijuana in the
treatment of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasticity and nausea.
Their results have been confirmed and have appeared in prestigious,
peer-reviewed publications like the Journal of the American Medical
Association, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and
many others.

Many Canadian physicians and their patients report that marijuana provides
relief from ailments including chronic pain, insomnia, seizures and
depression. Some medical marijuana users like epileptic Terry Parker and
London MS sufferer Lynn Williams have gone public with their use and faced
arrest to fight for their right to use this
medicinal herb.

Marijuana is also good medicine even for those who do not suffer from a
serious medical condition. Choosing to relax with marijuana instead of
alcohol is a responsible decision, since, unlike alcohol, marijuana is
non-toxic and relatively harmless.

Canadian marijuana prohibition originated in anti-Chinese racism. In the
early 1920s Maclean's ran a series of articles by Emily Murphy, which were
compiled into a book called The Black Candle.

The book was very popular and almost solely responsible for marijuana
prohibition in Canada. At one point Emily Murphy explains whom she blames
for the marijuana peril:

``An addict who died this year in British Columbia told how he was
frequently jeered at as a `white man accounted for.' The Chinese peddlers
taunted him with their superiority at being able to sell the dope without
using it, and by telling him how the yellow race would rule the world.

`Some of the Negroes coming into Canada - and they are no fiddle-faddle
fellows either, have similar ideas, and one of their greatest writers has
boasted how ultimately they will control the white man.''

The criminal prohibition is an anachronism from the 1920s that is no longer
appropriate for our society. The continued persecution of marijuana smokers
is harmful and destructive to Canadian society.

Most Canadians agree that marijuana is a valuable herbal medicine which
should not be exterminated. It's time to end Canada's war on marijuana and
cannabis culture.

Dana Larsen is editor of Cannabis Canada, Canada's National Magazine of
Marijuana & Hemp. What do you think? We'll publish a selection of views in
a column on the Letters page next Monday. Please limit responses to about
50 words. Write: Readers Face-Off, 1 Yonge St., Toronto, M5E 1E6 (fax:
416-869-4322 (e-mail: lettertoed@thestar.ca). `