POT SELLER JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF THE DRIVE'S UNIQUENESS

Re: Police, city ignored store selling pot, Sept. 2

I'll have Pia Tofini Johnson of the Commercial Drive Business
Improvement Association know that I am also a resident of Commercial
Drive. I have walked by Da Kine on dozens of occasions and have never
witnessed any unsavoury activities. In fact, the Da Kine storefront is
so innocuous that I only learned of their sale of pot through the
media. Contrary to Ms. Johnson's knee-jerk reaction, most local
residents would agree that it is precisely businesses like Da Kine
that make Commercial Drive so richly diverse and unique.

With respect to concerns over this being a "family-oriented
neighbourhood," parents are sadly out of touch with reality if they
think their kids do not have several other readily available sources
for the purchase of pot, many of them right on school property.
However, the key difference is that about 90 per cent of the money
spent on pot purchased from those sources will end up in the coffers
of the Hells Angels. Just as worrying is the fact that weed purchased
through such channels is frequently adulterated with pesticides.

In recognition of these realities, concerned parents should be having
frank and intelligent discussions with their children regarding the
use of pot. As with alcohol, there is very little anecdotal evidence
to suggest that the use of pot -- in moderation -- is harmful.

Our pot prohibition laws are an affront to our civil liberties. If
nobody ever challenged Canada's unjust laws, we would still be in a
time warp where we would not be able to purchase liquor, women would
not be allowed to vote and aboriginals would be prohibited from owning
their own land.

Eric Lofgren

Vancouver