SCHOOL, NOT PRISON

Re Tories Unveil Tough-On-Crime Legislation - Sept. 21: We can't
ignore the realities of what the Conservative government is doing to
Canadian families with their tough on crime agenda. Their path to
prison approach for pot growers is akin to a zero tolerance mentality
creating a school to jail pipeline.

Young people need a government that creates schools of learning, not
prisons for failure. There is no better time in the history of
Canadian politics than to embrace the youth of today with effective
drug policies that ensure success rather than ones that promote
resentment and alienation through punitive sentencing. Mandatory
minimums for drug offences have been a disaster south of the border.
Why would anyone think it would turn out differently here?

Judith Renaud,

executive director, Educators for Sensible Drug Policy,

Gibsons, B.C.