POT COLUMN PROVOKES REACTIONS

You're right to prepare for another onslaught. Maybe this one will
acknowledge that you appear increasingly informed about the
counter-productive nature of prohibition.

In the summer of 2003, pot became de facto legal in Canada. The
consequences? Nothing much to write about. The Ontario Association of
Police warned of lives put at risk, but it was just their usual hot
air. What they really said: they're worried they won't have as much
work to do, and all that pent up adrenaline cops are addicted to is
going to blow out the wrong hole.

Police seem to think they're qualified to correctly judge the whole
issue of drugs in society. I'm no expert either, but at least I like
to stick to the facts, which explains why I like the scientific approach.

Prohibitionists are more than welcome to their delusions and lies, but
not at the expense of our freedom or fact.

I read in an excellent article by Dan Gardner of the Ottawa Citizen
that the U.S. National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2001:
"Existing research seems to indicate that there is little apparent
relationship between severity of sanctions prescribed for drug use and
prevalence or frequency of use."

So to answer your question, crime rates would drop if one more drug
(in this case pot) became legal. They would probably drop enough that
the only people complaining would be the cops, who would have to keep
busy with crime, instead of persecuting people for their vices.

Bruce Codere