MODERNIZE LAWS

Re: "Weed-selling teen gets jail term" (March 26). It has been over 30 years
since the LeDain Commission report, which highlighted the flawed laws that
currently govern (or rather, do not govern) the use of marijuana in Canada.
It is a shameful injustice that this young man is another of the hundreds of
thousands of faceless victims of prohibition laws and our inability to
reform them.

As Canadians, we should realize that such a punishment is grossly
disproportionate to any potential "harm" that Wallace Gouthro's actions may
have caused, and that we are disadvantaging this individual (and all of
society) by introducing a young man to a prison environment which will have
only a punitive effect and may introduce him to harder drugs, crime or
prison victimization.

The time has come for all Canadians to stand against our failed marijuana
laws and the use of them as a pretext to put our children in prison, where
they are subject to greater harm. Many legal substances are far more harmful
than marijuana and cause far more social and economic damage to Canadians
every day. Citizens who wish to see our marijuana laws modernized will
attend a large political demonstration for the repeal of prohibition in
Ottawa on Parliament Hill, June 5, at 1 p.m.

Jody Pressman, co-ordinator

Fill the Hill, Ottawa

www.fillthehill.ca