LEGALIZATION INEVITABLE

Re: Look who's tokin' (Dean Pritchard, Nov. 25).

Legalization and regulation of cannabis in Canada is now inevitable.
The time has come for Canadians to stop asking the government to
legalize and regulate cannabis, and start demanding that they do it
immediately. If prohibition were going to work, it would have worked
by now.

Bills C-16 and C-17 are not going to address this issue adequately. We
need regulation, not "alternative penalties." By lowering penalties
for possession and raising penalties for growing, the government is
trying to give teens a break, and growers a big raise. The Liberal
government is trying to pull the wool over Canadians' eyes -- again!
As a friend of mine said. "A ruse by any other name ..."

On behalf of medical and recreational marijuana users nationwide, I
would like to declare our victory in The War On Drugs. Police and
government started this war on plants decades ago, and they have
suffered an embarrassing defeat. We the people are ready to listen to
the terms of their surrender.

Russell Barth

Ottawa

(The political war isn't won yet.)