IS THIS YOUR CANADA?

To The Editor,

Guess who is most pleased about this eradication policy. The 90 to 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.
One-fifth. 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 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.

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 and tax revenue?
Because that is the Canada you live in right now.

Russell Barth,

Licensed Medical Marijuana User, Nepean, Ont.