DEMAND FOR ILLICIT DRUGS IS THE PROBLEM

Re: Police on grow-ops: Don't you believe it, March 2.

The chiefs of police in Ontario, in their report entitled Green Tide, warn
us once again about the dangers of marijuana and grow-ops. They continue to
call for increased resources to stop supply. In the meantime, resources for
prevention, education and treatment are starved.

The chiefs seem to ignore a crucial fact from one of their staunchest
supporters. On Feb 12, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush said in a White
House release: "... the best way to affect supply is to reduce demand for
drugs; we can work as hard as we possibly want on interdiction, but so long
as there is the demand for drugs in this country, some crook is going to
figure out how get them here."

From President Bush's own mouth: No one can stop the the crooks if there is
demand. That fact has been proven over and over again. There are sane,
rational and humane drug policies to reduce demand and harm.

I congratulate Citizen writer Dan Gardner for presenting the facts: "The
police and the criminal law are not the solution to the problem."

Harvey Davey,

Ottawa