MEDIA HYPOCRITICAL OVER POT COVERAGE

Society is so hypocritical, and the media, doubly so. Most days, the
papers have scathing, hyped-up reports of "grow-ops" and the supposed
psychosis-inducing dangers of the newfangled space-age super-pot they
grow in them. We see cops in hazmat suits and read quotes from police
and government officials about how pot users are the scourge of society.

Then, two aging hacks come to town to rehash some outdated routines
that only serve to reinforce negative stereotypes about pot users, and
a winking media and a complacent public just giggle.

What about the fact that the hugely unpopular, incredibly expensive,
and wildly dysfunctional prohibition on pot is subsidizing everything
from organized crime to human trafficking and international terrorism?
What about the fact that federally licensed medical marijuana users
like me are having our human rights violated because we forbidden by
provincial laws from even using our medication in public?

Tommy Chong is the yardstick by which our culture measures pot users,
and we have him to thank, in large part, for the pot-legalization
movement being held back for the past 40 years.

RUSSELL BARTH

Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis