LEGALIZING POT WILL HELP KEEP IT AWAY FROM TEENS

Good for Sen. Larry Campbell and his call for the decriminalization of pot.

Here is a man who was a police officer, coroner and mayor of one of
Canada's largest cities. And when it comes to drug issues, he has
seen it from all sides.

I hope the Senate listens to this voice of reason.

If marijuana were decriminalized, or better still legalized,
distribution could be controlled more effectively, keeping this soft
drug out of the hands of teens.

We all know teens can buy weed more easily than they can buy liquor,
because the government controls liquor sales. Drug dealers don't care
who they sell to and may encourage your teen to try something harder.

If marijuana was legalized, this would all change.

Should marijuana be legalized, billions made annually could be
funnelled into legitimate businesses that would be taxed.

There would be no more dangerous grow-ops in residential
neighbourhoods, and police could focus on real criminals or producers
of dangerous drugs, such as crystal meth.

The taxes on marijuana sales alone could bail out our ailing
health-care system, and cancer patients would be a lot better off
using marijuana, rather than a narcotic, for their pain.

My mother joined the B.C. Compassion Club Society after a terminal
diagnosis and dropped her narcotic intake by 200 millilitres a day,
increasing her quality of life immensely for the time she had left.

Good luck, Larry. I am behind you all the way.

Miesje Taylor, West Vancouver