SENATORS AND ANTI-PROHIBITIONISTS TAKE MINISTER TO TASK

Re: Senate delay on drug bill risks lives: Justice minister, July 23:

The justice minister is attempting to sell Canadians an already-failed
solution. How can society address the problems caused by prohibition
with further prohibition?

Where is the evidence that mandatory minimum sentences have any effect
on either the supply or the demand for drugs? Our southern neighbour
has had mandatory minimums for more than a decade and what has that
done to stop drug abuse there? Nothing. It sure swells prison
populations and costs U.S. taxpayers billions, though.

Adding mandatory minimums to cannabis production will only drive the
prices up, push drug dealers into selling harder, easier-to-conceal
drugs and push out the small producers, leaving more organized crime,
not less.

At a time when health care is so underfunded and there is such a high
fiscal deficit, is there really money to start building new prisons
for cannabis botanists?

C-15 is a bad bill that will further entrench organized crime in drug
production. If the federal government really wanted to eliminate
marijuana-growing operations, it would legalize and regulate cannabis.
Someone growing pot in a residence wouldn't be able to compete with
people who could legally produce it in fields or greenhouses.

Colin Walker

New Westminster