NO SANE REASON TO PROHIBIT POT

It's commendable that B.C. public health officers recognize the
obvious pitfalls of cannabis (marijuana) prohibition ("Legalize and
tax pot, health officers urge," The Leader, Jan. 3,). However, some
clarifications must be made.

Cannabis may not be totally safe but it hasn't directly killed anyone
in over 5,000 years of documented use. That's safety on a Biblical
scale. Cannabis should be re-legalized, regulated and taxed because
it is far safer than alcohol and it is here for the duration anyway.
Why keep forcing the dangerous underground black market to regulate a
business that is guaranteed to continue?

Citizens, including teens who purchase cannabis, may be doing so from
people who also sell hard drugs which increases hard drug addiction
rates. Selling the extremely popular God-given plant cannabis like
alcohol would remove hard drugs from the equation.

Cannabis prohibition hasn't worked anywhere in North America; a sane
reason to continue cannabis prohibition just doesn't exist.

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado