WHY MARIJUANA SHOULDN'T BE LEGAL

Re: Be Compassionate, Colby Cosh, Jan 14.

Like Mr. Cosh, I want "a logical, humane medical marijuana policy,"
but his proposal seems better suited for organized crime than sick
people. Medical marijuana's promoters want pot treated as a social
drug instead of a medicine. Should "compassion club" owners
manufacture and sell homemade medical methadone? Do we "allow
patients to regulate the content and quality of their own medication"?

Vancouver ignored drug laws and became Canada's worst drug
metropolis. Amsterdam has seen decriminalized marijuana's "logistics
and security problems" dramatically increase illegal drug business,
and the city become a head office for international drug dealers.

I wasted half a decade of my youth "self-medicating" with marijuana
and am convinced our biggest drug problem since the 1960s has been
that we've been too foolish to either recognize or admit how much
marijuana harms our nation -- wasting secondary and post-secondary
educational tax dollars, undermining education and early working
years and delaying and sometimes minimizing people's maturity and
contribution to society.

Yes, be compassionate. Push the government to protect Canadians. But
treat marijuana as a prescription pharmacy medicine, not a social club drug.

Roger Freihoff, Mississauga, Ont.