POT DEBATE SHOULDN'T BE LEFT TO POLITICIANS

To the Editor,

Re: One more tool to fight drugs, Editorial, May 13.

I suppose we should be grateful you gave a brief nod to the
possibility that legalizing marijuana might be a way to address the
problem of grow-ops. The majority of your media colleagues wet their
knickers even thinking about such a "radical" concept in case the idea
reduces the flow of easy news stories about drug busts.

That said, your statement that the debate over legalization should
take place in Ottawa, not Victoria, is profoundly wrong.

Debates about important public policy issues such as putting an end to
the state's crusade to punish Canadians for what they choose to put in
their own bodies cannot be restricted to politicians. Politicians
seldom lead, but they follow well.

Alan Randell,

Victoria