Letter Of The Day

A CASH- AND POWER-GRAB FOR POLICE

Re "Cops on 20 year high" (Feb. 24): Let's be honest about what
decriminalization amounts to. A feeble expression of an overwhelming desire
to change the way Canada deals with marijuana. The argument that less
enforcement will occur doesn't hold water when you take into account that
most police do not enforce this law because of its harsh sanction currently
as well as the case studies in Australia which have indicated more police
enforcement follows efforts to "decriminalize."

If we really want to take marijuana away from the criminals and reduce
police and court expenditures on the benign issues such as
marijuana-related offences, we should truly decriminalize marijuana by
regulating it and taxing it.

The current bill is sold to Canadians as an improvement, but it's not an
improvement for the people whom this bill will disproportionately affect:
Youth, students, visible minorities, single-parent households and the sick.
The so-called "decriminalization bill" decriminalizes nothing and amounts
to a cash- and power-grab for police. Real reform this is not, and
Canadians deserve better.

Jody Pressman

Fill the Hill

Event Co-ordinator

(We figure we should try it; if it doesn't work, we can try something else)