IT'S TIME FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA

Re: Canada's drug laws 'invitation' to crime, SEPT. 18.

Canadians have lived through decade after decade of enforcement of our
U.S.-fashioned drug laws, waiting for the promised results. What do we have
to show? More Canadians than ever are using marijuana. More Canadians than
ever are growing marijuana.

Canada's drug laws are a major invitation to crime because they undermine
respect for the rule of law and foster contempt for authority. With an
all-time record of three million Canadians admitting to regular marijuana
use and more than 10 million admitting to past use, now is the time for
Parliament to pass a strong legalization bill to regulate and tax the sale
of marijuana in accordance with the unanimous findings of a 2002 Senate report.

Thirty years after the LeDain Commission, it is time that Canadian
parliamentarians turned their ear away from the needs of the White House
administration and toward what is best for the people of Canada.

Jody Pressman, Ottawa, Executive director, NORML Canada