'WAR ON DRUGS' IS A WASTE OF RESOURCES

Dear editor,

Regarding the story "RCMP take 15,000 pot plants out of circulation"
published in the Sept. 23 issue of the Victoria Star. Guess who is
most pleased about this eradication policy. The 90-95 per cent of
growers who will never be caught! This colossal waste of time and
money is not only failing to fix things, it is, in fact, outrageously
counterproductive. Think about it: if the police busted twice as many
grows this year as last year, they would still only get about 20 per
cent of them. 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 actually subsidizing the entire industry
by busting only a minority of them. The cops know they are subsidizing
criminals because the evidence to support what I say is widely
available. They do it deliberately to secure their jobs. 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 plants going. They
lobby constantly -- with our tax dollars, no less -- and have way too
much influence over our governments, at all levels.

They also like to tell the public this is somehow interfering with
organized crime or preventing pot from reaching your kids, but
informed people know better. Every year the cops bust more and more
people, and every year organized criminals grow stronger and pot
becomes more widely available. All this over a medicinal plant that
recent science suggests actually fights cancer!

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 right now.

Russell Barth

Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User

Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis (PAIDOC)

www.paidoc.org