MARIJUANA MISUNDERSTOOD

When you look around this city, all you see is bar after bar, liquor
stores all lit up in a row, CheckStop at the corner with people being
arrested for impaired driving, an ambulance around the corner scraping
another one off the road, and another being taken to hospital for alcohol
poisoning.

This is the reality of the leading-selling legal drug in Canada: alcohol.

How many of us have lost a loved one to alcohol? How many of us have
someone in our life right now that can't go even a single day without a
drink? These people are costing the rest of us billions in annual health
and enforcement costs.

Now look around at all the cannabis smokers. There are people at their
jobs, smiling, there is harmony in the air, there are no impaired drivers
killing anyone, and there is nobody breaking into your home to get their
fix. Yet pot is still illegal.

In 5,000 years of recorded history, no one has ever died from a marijuana
overdose or chronic use. One would have to smoke hundreds of pounds of pot
in under 20 minutes to get close to the "toxic" level of cannabis. Yet pot
is still illegal.

Prohibition is the only harm in marijuana. Keeping pot illegal so it feeds
organized criminals is the real crime. All the money and time our police
officers take to run around after people who harm no one could then be
used to catch the real criminals.

People should take the time to educate themselves about the dozens of
medical benefits of marijuana. It could dramatically improve the lives of
those who suffer from HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's, morning sickness, ADD/ADHD,
migraines, nausea, anorexia, arthritis, cachexia, cancer, Crohn's,
epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, gout, chronic pain, spasticity and
Parkinson's.

Protect your children from the government feeding you lies. This
government wants to put your kids in jail for one joint and have mandatory
minimum sentences for growing a single plant. Ending prohibition would
help the economy of Canada by putting the money generated by criminals
back into the hands of the Canadian people.

Prohibition is the only harm there is in marijuana. Science doesn't lie.
The government does.

Tamara Cartwright

Southern Alberta Cannabis Club

Coaldale