PROHIBITIONISTS STILL RELY ON SCARE TACTICS, ASSUMPTIONS

The Editor,

Re: "Grow op searches good, if not abused," the Now editorial, March 25.

The problem is in your ending paragraph where you say the following:
"Grow-ops and other drug activities are a scourge upon the land and
all law enforcement entails the weighing of public interest against
personal freedoms. We must watch that the scales don't tip too far in
favour of enforcement."

It's already in favour of enforcement, to an epic scale. Prohibition
of substances actually causes the crime, not the substances
themselves. I realize with all the propaganda floating around
misconceptions are easy to absorb. The idea that cannabis causes
schizophrenia and potency increases of mathematical impossibility are
truly what reveal a prohibitionist's argument for what it is: scare
tactics based on their own interpretations of studies that even the
scientists conducting the study didn't come near to concluding.

We don't need, nor have ever asked for a "nanny state." So why do we
have one? Especially when the majority of Canadians favour
legalization. Remember a grow op is only dangerous because it's
illegal. Orchid growers and tomato enthusiasts seldom get thrown in
jail. Nor do beer brewers, anymore.

William Bradley

Kitchener, Ont.