MARIJUANA ERADICATION EFFORTS HELP FUEL CRIMINAL MARKET: POT SMOKER

Re: "Pot Busts Big Business," Saturday, Oct. 10

Here is a letter a pot grower might send:

Dear police,

Thanks large for cutting down all those pot plants. Tearing out 5-10%
of the area's pot crop each year secures our nding like no other
policy. Legalizing pot would cripple us because everyone who wanted to
could simply grow some in their yards, and that would put us right out
of business.

But your ongoing eradication efforts secure future customers coming to
us for this oh-so-easy-to-grow medicinal herb.

We simply cannot thank you enough, although we suspect you are pretty
happy about your ever-increasing anti-pot budgets.

You make money. We make money. There is lots of pot on the street.
Everyone is happy. Except the taxpayers, but who cares what those
suckers think, right? Also, this propaganda in the news really helps
us, too. We can charge anywhere from $2,600-$3,500 per pound for this
simple weed, because of the perceived threat.

Our customers ask us why pot is so expensive, and we tell them that
the police are "cracking down" and we are facing big risks and so on.
They have no choice but to accept it. Thanks large for that, too.

So, by all means, please keep tearing out as many plants as you can,
and keep lobbying for longer sentences. Even if you catch twice as
many growers as last fall, you still couldn't get more than 20% of us,
and that stimulates the entire industry. We will thank you for your
efforts by calling in tips against our competitors.

Russell Barth

Nepean