CANADIANS DESERVE REAL REFORM

Letter of the Day

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)