STEPHEN HARPER MUST HAVE A LOT OF FRIENDS WHO ARE DRUG DEALERS.

He plans to implement mandatory minimum sentences for people who grow
marijuana, and he should have no problem getting enough Liberal and
Bloc votes to push that policy through.

History, science, and common sense show us that this policy would act
as no deterrent, drive up the street price, drive up the dealers'
profits, and therefore drive up the competition. This will inevitably
lead to more gun-violence, more robberies, and more ruined
properties. Even putting more police on the streets will have little
to no effect, since police can catch barely a fifth of the growers
and dealers as it is. Even if we catch three times as many, there
will always be a long line of guys waiting to fill every one of these
vacancies.

There are already more than 600,000 Canadians with criminal records
for drug offences, and Harper would like to raise that number to 3
million. He also wants to continue pressing charges for simple
possession on teens. This will dramatically reduce their ability to
get into good schools, get good jobs, travel, and maximize their
earning potential. This hurts all Canadians.

Then, the taxpayers will have to pay billions more -- every single
year -- to arrest, hold, prosecute, and incarcerate these people in
yet-to-be-built prisons.

Harper's policy will also increase the danger to the estimated one
million Canadians who use marijuana for medical purposes. Health
Canada's fiasco of a Medical Marijuana Licensing program will likely
be shut down, or revamped to make access even more difficult for
these sick and dying Canadians, adding even more strain to our health
care system.

On the other hand, regulating marijuana like alcohol would generate
an estimated $3 billion in annual tax revenue, settle the medical
marijuana issue once and for all, and reduce children's access to
marijuana. It would also offer quality-controls, reduce criminal
profits, reduce gun-violence, and save Canadian taxpayers an
additional $2 billion in annual costs for enforcement, prosecution,
home insurance, stolen hydro, and corrections.

But Harper's policy will make George W. Bush very happy, and that is,
apparently, much more important to him.

Russell Barth, Christine Lowe,

Ottawa