TO BEAT POT USE, IT FIRST HAS TO BE LEGALIZED

To the editor:

Canada has been fighting the U.S. lead in destroying the plant called
marijuana. A plant that science shows is safer than caffeine but
because it is illegal it is worth its weight in gold.

It is so funny that the solution is very simple: legalize tax and
regulate it like tobacco and alcohol, at the same time eliminating the
black market.

We are following in the destruction of our liberties like in the U.S.
But the government and police would rather be gardeners with guns and
waste more money following a failed policy that has been failing for
70 years.

You cannot legislate choices of what people put in their bodies, but
you can control purity so that the drugs do not kill when consumed the
way they do, because the dosage is too pure and unregulated and
controlled by gangs who may spray pot with heroin to get people hooked
on heroin to get more customers. You know the same way that some soft
drink producers put caffeine in their soda pop to get more customers.
It is time to realize that drugs are here to stay and the best way to
protect people and users is by treating drugs as a health problem and
regulating the drug trade so the drugs do less harm. I work in an
emergency department and I have not seen anyone come in because they
were stoned. Because pot will not get you higher than a six-pack.

Joseph Leger

Toronto