MARIJUANA PENALTIES TOO HARSH

Re: Feds to push major anti-crime bill, by Mark Kennedy, Sept 19.

Within the next several weeks, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives
will very likely pass their omnibus crime bill. Within this bill, is
the Organized Drug Crime Act (formerly Bill S-10).

Among other items, the bill states that if you are caught with six or
more marijuana plants, there is a mandatory, minimum six-month prison
sentence. The maximum sentence will increase from nine months to 14
years with the passing of this bill. Now let's think about that for a
minute, and look at the facts:

Marijuana is one of the safest drugs available today. It is not
possible to consume a lethal amount of marijuana.

Alcohol is more addictive, more toxic to the brain and liver, and more
closely associated with violence (domestic abuse, sexual assault,
homicide, suicide).

Acetaldehyde, the major byproduct of alcohol metabolism, is toxic and
carcinogenic. Thirty-five thousand Americans die yearly as a direct
result of alcohol use. Cigarettes kill 1,200 Americans every day, and
5.4 million a year worldwide. (Ethan Nadelmann, JD, PhD).

There has never been a death directly associated with marijuana.
Marijuana has many medicinal uses. Patients with multiple sclerosis,
gliomas, brain injury, Tourettes Syndrome, HIV/AIDS, and many other
ailments, have found that marijuana helped them with their symptoms,
or slowed the progression of the disease. There is also strong
evidence that marijuana kills cancer cells with no harm to healthy
surrounding cells (See "Can Cannibus cure Cancer" on DVD).

So, why are we enforcing such harsh penalties for growing a plant that
has so many medicinal uses, and so little (if any) side effects?

I'm stumped.

Jim Gignac

Belle River