LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

When Canada's previous Liberal government started making noises a few
years back about decriminalizing marijuana, the U.S. got very antsy.

Canada backed down - as we always do when Uncle Sam expresses
displeasure - and our current Conservative majority government, feet
firmly planted in the 19th century as usual, has actually toughened
marijuana possession penalties by imposing mandatory six-month
minimum sentences for growing or even possessing miniscule amounts of
the dreaded weed.

Soon, we'll have our prisons full of folks serving 10 or 20-year
terms for being caught with a few joints, just like our misguided
cousins to the south.

Can privatized penitentiaries be far behind, to handle the increase
in "unreported crime" that Stockwell Day apparently had seen in an
apocalyptic vision?

At the same time as our national government is stubbornly bucking a
worldwide realization that the "war on drugs" has caused far more
social ills than it has ever cured, police have noted low compliance
with recent laws prohibiting talking or texting on a cellphone while driving.

Our governments obviously have things backwards. Which group - casual
marijuana users or drivers on cell phones - presents the biggest
danger to the health and welfare of the rest of us?

How about mandatory minimum six-month jail sentences for morons who
text or talk on their cell phones while driving - and leave the
casual pot smokers alone?

Don Rollins,

Vernon