PROHIBITION IS FUTILE

Editor, The Gazette

Re: Thousands of plants seized in summer busts, October 21, 2009

So what if the Kootenay Boundary Regional Detachment of the RCMP
seized 14,130 marijuana plants from 88 sites throughout the region?

What difference will it make?

Last year's RCMP harvest didn't stop this year's crop and this year's
RCMP harvest won't stop next year's crop.

The recent outdoor "marijuana eradication" efforts by the RCMP are
glaring examples of the futility of prohibition.

Law enforcement efforts are not putting the growers out of business,
nor will they ever do so. It is all just an expensive show at
taxpayer expense to give the public the illusion that something is
being accomplished.

Why aren't journalists asking important questions, like:

1) Is there evidence that these eradication efforts actually reduce
the availability of marijuana on the street?

2) What percentage of the outdoor crops are the RCMP able to destroy?

3) How much do these annual eradication efforts cost? (diverted
police resources, overtime pay, helicopter use and fuel)

Taxpayers have a right to know the answers to these questions.

This futile and expensive ritual will continue, year after year,
until we finally come to our senses and end cannabis
prohibition.Every major study on the cannabis issue has come to the
same key conclusion as the 2002 Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs:

"The continued prohibition of cannabis jeopardizes the health and
well-being of Canadians much more than does the substance itself."
(Cannabis: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy, 2002 -
www.SenateReport.ca )

Every day that we delay the end of this corrupting, harmful policy,
the deeper the tentacles of organized crime infiltrate into our communities!

Ending cannabis prohibition is definitely in our best interest.

Herb Couch

Nelson