REGULATED DRUG SUPPLY IS NEEDED, NOT MORE PENALTIES

Re: Time to get tough on drugs, NewsLeader, March 5.

The slaughter of four RCMP actually reinforces the need for a regulated
supply of cannabis to meet the demand instead of leaving it to crooks.
Sentences for grow-ops are very severe in the USA yet they remain their own
biggest supplier and consumer. If harsh sentences did discourage drug use
and production, the U.S. would be drug free.

Ratcheting up penalties will only make the trade more lucrative, push out
the small growers in favor of organized crime and increase the danger to
police and our communities. Prohibition has been tried and it is a
disaster. Legal pot would be almost worthless so all the people calling for
harsher prohibition must be profiting from the status quo.

Clearly something needs to be done but having a U.S. style war on drugs is
not it.

Colin Walker, New Westminster