POT FIGHT INCREASES DRUG'S VALUE

Sir: Regarding the story "Police try to spot pot" (Tues. July 21.) Why would
the public want to help the cops subsidize criminals?

If the police busted twice as many grows every year, they would still
only get about 20 per cent of them. Probably less.

And every time they bust one grow -- indoor, outdoor, small or big --
all they do is make the ones they don't catch that much more valuable.

Not only is the illegality of pot the very thing that makes growing it
so lucrative, the police are subsidizing the entire industry by
busting a minority of them.

And don't tell me "the cops don't make the laws"! The police have been
lobbying government for decades to keep the war on certain drugs
going. They lobby constantly and have way too much influence over our
governments -- at all levels.

They like to tell the public that this is somehow preventing pot from
reaching your kids, but every year they bust more and more people, and
every year pot becomes more widely available.

All over a medicinal plant that recent science suggests actually helps
healthy cells resist cancer invasion: www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20071226/pot-slows-cancer-in-test-tube

Is this the Canada you want to live in? A country where cops help
gangsters and deprive people of valuable medicine? Because that is the
Canada you live in now.

Russell Barth Federally licensed medical marijuana user Co-founder,
Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis (PAIDOC)
www.paidoc.orgNepean, Ont.