CRIMINAL CODE NOT BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH MARIJUANA USE, SAY SOME HT READERS

Re: "Canada deserves a full debate about marijuana, but why do media cast
prohibition as a failure?" (The Hill Times, July 23, p.11).

Columnist Tom Korski makes the point that the Senate Special Committee
on Illegal Drugs acknowledged that "an exemption regime making
cannabis available... could probably lead to an increase in use ...
for a certain period." It's too bad he didn't include the following
sentence to give the whole picture: "Use rates would then level off as
interest wanes and as effective programs are set up."

Mr. Korski responds to B.C. Liberal Senator Larry Campbell's question
in the affirmative that it is reasonable to burden a young person with
a criminal record because "everyone agrees that smoking is unhealthy."
I believe, as the Senate report and many others do, that the Criminal
Code is not the best way to deal with a matter of public health such
as this one.

But at least the government had a sense of humour. They assured their
opponents in the church that "...sacramental wine would be inspected
by a competent ecclesiastical authority."

Ken Cameron,
Brossard, Que.