CANNABIS USE WIDESPREAD

Re: Cannabis debate a blast from past, Letter, Feb. 26.

Letter writer Tom Cook has driven me out of the closet. Time to stand up
and declare that I've smoked pot for more than 30 years and encourage
others to do so if they want. It's the least I can do to counter the tired,
silly, ill-informed, Reefer Madness-type arguments against the legalization
of pot like those put forward by Cook.

He can believe, if he wants, that cannabis use is not widespread among the
"good and responsible citizens of Toronto." I'm sure he believes he's never
met a pot smoker in his life. Over my life, I've met hundreds and hundreds
of pot smokers from all walks of life, including many, many friends and
family members. I have never met anyone who has attacked a lady, elderly or
otherwise. I have never met anyone who has committed a crime to get his
"fix." I've never met anyone who refers to it as a "fix."

I have met countless very cool, caring and creative people, generally broad
and mellow in their outlook for whom marijuana use leads to long
conversations, intense music appreciation and too many potato chips, not
bug-eyed crime sprees or screaming, straight-jacketed trips to the
emergency ward.

Any example Cook can conjure of someone behaving badly while under the
influence of marijuana can be countered by countless examples of people who
have not. Or by countless examples of people behaving badly under the
influence of traffic.

Cook advises us to seek arguments against pot from the police. How about
the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which advocates the
decriminalization of marijuana?

I just wish Cook would inform himself about the subject in a truly
open-minded way, free of his obvious prejudices. I wish he would watch the
excellent documentary Grass by Toronto filmmaker Ron Mann, which details
how and why marijuana became illegal in the first place (you'll be
surprised) and explains how most of us have been scared into just the kind
of panic about pot that Cook demonstrates.

Better yet, I wish Cook would sit back on his couch, blow a big fat joint
and ask himself honestly how he feels now.

Doug Earl, Toronto