MARIJUANA AND MAYERTHORPE

Marijuana repeal laws may have been set back 100 years by the
devastating incident in Mayerthorpe, but blaming marijuana is
unproductive and ill-advised. As long as marijuana use remains
illegal, and people can't grow their own for their own personal use,
or have access to a safe and legal outlet for obtaining it, organized
crime will keep laughing all the way to the bank.

I work in the health care field and know, or know of, many people,
including educators, health care workers, lawyers, business owners,
marine biologists and other pillars of the community who use or have
used marijuana. And then there are the slew of literary icons,
astrophysicists, ex-prime ministers' wives and ex-prime ministers,
U.S. presidential candidates and presidents who have done the same.

The Mayerthorpe killings are horrendous and our hearts break for the
victims' families. But, please, let's not clump hundreds of thousands
of marijuana users (many of whom are honest, productive, hard-working
people) with one perverted, cop-hating, gun-wielding psychopath.

Andi Peterson,

Calgary