MARIJUANA USERS' RIGHTS VIOLATED

Unwilling To Offer Same Protection

Re Letter, Jan. 21.

Letter writer Michael Stewart refers to homosexuals as "the last remaining
sector of Canadians not to enjoy the full benefits of the Charter." While
homosexuals should, of course, have the benefit of all Charter rights,
there is actually a much larger group of Canadians whose Charter rights are
not respected -- the more than four million Canadians who choose to use
marijuana.

Imprisoning people for using or selling a healthy herb is a grossly
unreasonable violation of most of the rights supposedly guaranteed by our
Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Most obviously, it is a violation of "the
right to life, liberty and security of the person; the right to be secure
against unreasonable search and seizure; the right not to be arbitrarily
imprisoned and the right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment."

Kane Slater

Toronto