SPACED-OUT AND SEEDY WHAT'S HAPPENING TO VANCOUVER?

There's a big difference between strung-out street people and/or
panhandlers downtown and some folks inside a pot cafe. It is a little
seedy downtown. I feel sorry for the tourists who book their
accommodation there and have to walk around in that environment.

But I reject attempts to connect pot smoking and "down and outers" on
our urban streets. Crystal meth, crack, mental illness and alcoholism
all combine to create the atmosphere tourists and some of us locals
find intimidating. Whenever pot smoking is lumped in with hard drug
use, it creates a propaganda that eager abolitionists gobble up.

Sharon Bishop

Vancouver