LEGALIZING POT FOR REVENUE A BAD IDEA

I found the article, Tax Pot Study Urges, by Eric Beauchesne, quite
disturbing. For years we have spent millions on educating our youth on the
health perils of smoking marijuana.

We have jailed those who have cultivated or sold it, regardless of the
quantity confiscated by the authorities. We have fined, jailed or both
those who have been arrested for quantities as small as one joint.

We have even gone to such extremes as collaborating with law enforcement in
other countries to prevent its importation into the country.

Now it is being proposed for legalization solely on the principal of
government revenue from taxation. What kind of message is that sending to
our children, that the only legal cartel is the Canadian government cartel
to buy your weed from? There were no notations in that article that stated
previous studies regarding the harmful effects of smoking marijuana were
exaggerated, misleading or miscalculated.

I truly believe that the economic think-tank who researched that study were
marijuana smoking prodigies themselves, hence their study findings. I feel
our youths' health and minds should not be sacrificed for the sake of
revenue.

ANNA STEPTOE

Lakeshore