HOW MANY PEOPLE REALLY SMOKING POT?

If there are, as the police say, thousands of grow-ops within Ontario,
why has no one in the media or government taken into consideration
just how many people must be smoking pot.

This is a supply and demand industry, there are no Boxing Day sales to
clear out overstocks of Indicas or Sativas (I've been reading up). The
reason so many grows are popping up is that, despite the thousands
that are operating, the demand still far outweighs the supply.

Keeping the marijuana industry illegal pushes it into the hands of
organized as well as unorganized criminals. This is a given; the old
prohibition argument shows this is the case.

The argument that it is a gateway drug is ringing pretty hollow. An
informal survey of neighbours and friends indicates they stole a
cigarette from their parents or pinched a mickey from the liquor
cabinet long before they smoked their first joint.

If you do have to purchase this soft drug from a criminal type, it is
all the more likely he or she will have other harder drugs available;
after all, they are criminals.

Smokers are from all facets of life, rich or poor, educated or
uneducated, Liberal, Conservative and NDPers alike, almost everyone
admits to trying it. Branding these people criminals is absurd and
hopefully Paul Martin will push the decriminalization of small amounts
of marijuana through Parliament.

Not recognizing that perhaps a much larger portion of society than
first thought smokes marijuana is foolhardy, because if it takes
10,000 grow-ops to fill the marijuana needs of criminals alone, we are
in serious trouble.

Bill McStravick,

Brampton