EMERY GUILTY OF TELLING TRUTH ABOUT PROHIBITION

Editor:

If outspoken Canadian marijuana activist and seed entrepreneur Marc Emery is
guilty of anything, it's telling the truth about marijuana prohibition.
Canada is now faced with choosing between its sovereignty and U.S. President
George W. Bush's zero tolerance culture war.

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana
would be legal. And if harsh penalties deterred consensual vices, the former
land of the free and current record holder in citizens incarcerated would be
a "drug-free" America.

Marijuana prohibition has done little other than burden millions of
otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal records. A University of
Michigan study reports that lifetime use of cannabis is higher in the United
States than any European country, yet the U.S. is one of the few western
countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish citizens who
prefer marijuana to martinis. Canada should follow the lead of Europe and
Just Say No to the American Inquisition.

Robert Sharpe,

Arlington, Virginia