HYPOCRITICAL STANCE

Thanks for including the quote from Madam Justice Louise Arbour's dissent in
the editorial "Tokin' justice" (The Sunday Herald, Jan. 4).

I'm surprised, though, at the editorial's conclusion that a fine-based
regime is somehow fair to pot users or distributors.

Ask yourself: If the drug war is about addiction and health, how many
cigarette users or coffee drinkers should be offered arrest, incarceration
and asset forfeiture as "treatment?" Should all bar owners be subject to
arrest for the repeat offence of commerce?

Users and sellers of those dangerous, addictive products already pay a fine
of sorts, in the form of a tax. In fact, while very few choose to grow their
own, even that choice is legal in almost every country, for most personal
uses.

Cannabis consumers and dealers ought to be offered the same option.

Got hypocrisy?

Jose Melendez, DeLand, Fla.