MARIJUANA SHOULD BE DECRIMINALIZED

Open letter to the Honourable Nicholson:

I truly hope you will reconsider your research into the dangers of
marijuana. You are totally the missing the point if you think that
prohibition does or ever has helped people not to use drugs.
Certainly education is the best tool.

There was a letter in our local newspaper from a U.S. police officer,
who said he has never in his 35 years as a police officer, seen
violence or crime from use of marijuana alone. Usually those issues
were from alcohol or other drugs.

I am a 59-year-old woman, a functioning member of our community, a
volunteer, and mother of two healthy and working adult daughters.

I have been smoking marijuana since I was 15 years old. It is the
only substance that can help me with my Hep C and myalgia. I have
tried the other routes, I have tried pharmaceutical drugs. I also
have tried almost every street drug there is in my past, and I am an
alcoholic in remission for 15 years. With the help of treatment
centres and AA, I have been able to eliminate everything except marijuana.

I was put on two different pharmaceuticals for two different reasons,
Interferon, and then Effexor, and both drugs have suicidal ideation
and anxiety and other physical symptoms as side effects. I
experienced every side effect possible from both of them, and wanted
to die. Neither drug worked or did anything but make me sick! And
those are legal.

Alcohol is legal. Now compute the number of lives taken because of
alcohol, and the number of lives taken because of marijuana. You
can't. Because people do not die from smoking marijuana alone.

I suspect that the reason marijuana is not separated from the hard
drugs (including alcohol) is because it is too lucrative for organized
crime. How else can they trade for the powders and pills?

I also suspect that politicians might be afraid of organized crime.
They are bad people, and I don't blame you, but someone has to be
brave enough to do the research on marijuana and health, and realize
that it should be treated the same as alcohol.

If Canada were to legalize hemp and marijuana, it would be our biggest
cash crop, create a million jobs, and save our economy and our
environment.

There are hundreds of videos and documentaries about marijuana and
hemp and none of them derogatory. The war on marijuana has to stop,
you are degrading our country and its people!

What is it going to take to get through to you politicians who have
blinders on, or are you getting kickbacks from crime lords? That is a
harsh question yes, but I can't think of any other reason that you
won't make it legal, when it is one of the most beneficial plants in
the world!

Linda Kelly

Kaslo,

Email reply from the Ministerial Correspondence Unit, received on
Thursday, September 17, 2009.

Subject: Correspondence from the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of
Canada.

The office of my colleague the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn,
Minister of State (Agriculture), has forwarded to me a copy of your
correspondence concerning the decriminalization of marijuana.

The Government of Canada has no intention to decriminalize the
possession of cannabis. The government is opposed to decriminalizing
or legalizing illicit drugs.

If you would like to learn more about the government's National
Anti-Drug Strategy, I invite you to visit the Strategy's website at
www.nationalantidrugstrategy.gc.ca .

I appreciate having had your comments brought to my
attention.

The Honourable Rob Nicholson