PRISON NO PLACE FOR MARIJUANA USERS

Re: Marijuana penalties too harsh, by Jim Gignac, Sept. 29.

Prisons should be for hard-time criminals like rapists, murderers,
those who keep violating probation. Why lock up these people who
commit a crime that doesn't endanger the lives of other people?

If you murder somebody, you should go to prison. If you rape somebody
or molest a child, you deserve to go to prison.

If you have a meth lab, you should go to jail. If you're in the
production and/ or distribution of cocaine, crack, heroin or ecstasy,
you should go to jail since those drugs are harmful and addictive.

But for having marijuana plants, I haven't heard or read anything in
the news about somebody overdosing or dying of weed. Why should these
offenders be sent to jail for that long for having pot?

Of course, what they are doing is wrong, but they don't deserve to be
put in the same environment as the above mentioned because they can be
at risk of being harmed by the other offenders.

Stephen Harper leads a "conservative" party; he is contradicting his
party's actions by lengthening jail time for drug related offences,
which costs the government and us more money. Looks like he is going
liberal and wants to spend more money rather than trying to save money.

Ken Zulian

Windsor