PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK SAYS READER

Jasper Booster -- The March 9 Jay Walking column was right on target.
Hazardous marijuana grow operations are a direct result of marijuana
prohibition. Legitimate farmers do not steal electricity to grow produce in
the basements of rented homes. If legal, growing marijuana would be less
profitable then farming tomatoes. As it stands, the drug war distorts
market forces such that an easily grown weed is literally worth its weight
in gold.

Rather than continue to subsidize organized crime, Canadian policymakers
should ignore the reefer madness hysteria of the U.S. government and
instead to look their own Senate for guidance. In the words of Senator
Pierre Claude Nolin, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that
cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated
not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue."

- - Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC