STEPHEN HARPER & MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES FOR MARIJUANA

Dear Editor:

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 offenses, 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. One wonders how many pedophiles and violent
sex offenders will get out early to make room for all of these
smokers and gardeners.

Harper's policy will also increase the danger to the estimated 1
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.

Harper's marijuana policy could easily lead one to conclude that he
is deliberately trying to subsidize organized crime, while making
things more expensive - and dangerous - for average Canadians. But
Harper's policy will make George W. Bush very happy, and that is -
apparently - much more important to him.

Russell Barth & Christine Lowe

Federal Medical Marijuana License Holders, Ottawa