MARIJUANA SAFER THAN ALCOHOL

Re: Marijuana illegal for now, Dec. 28.

Though we all can agree it is difficult enough for parents to raise
their children and we don't need mixed signals from the government,
what we really don't need is hypocrisy from York Region's police chief.

We can also agree we'd rather not have people younger than 18 using
recreational drugs of any kind.

And although it would be nice if we didn't expose them to caffeine,
white sugar, red meat, Ritalin etc. -- the list is far too long -- we
all know how counter-productive and archaic it is to just say no to
kids, especially when it's a fact most parents have said yes once, if
not recently, in their lives.

To allow all of those legal poisons to be consumed, then to backpedal
and draw the line retroactively at pot is transparent hypocrisy, which
does not escape notice of our children.

Given the choice between the two recreational drugs, alcohol and
cannabis, booze is by far the more damaging in every respect.

Yet the message we send to our kids under the current state of
prohibition, "stay off the skateboard, but here's the keys to a Corvette".

As for me, I'm a "tax-paying citizen", grouped in with the 90 per cent
of the Canadian public who think the police have more pressing issues
than charging pot smokers for choosing the immeasurably more benign
recreational drug.

As a Canadian, I take my liberty seriously and the current prohibition
is an affront to that liberty. It is, in effect, our government
telling us we do not own our own bodies.

I wish Chief Armand La Barge would not "la barge" into Canadians'
lives with his narrow, self-serving propaganda and would give our kids
just a little credit for intelligence.

Tom Pashkov

Richmond Hill