POT PROHIBITION ARGUMENTS BLOWING SMOKE

To the Editor,

I suppose MP James Lunney is correct when he asserts that "smoking anything
is not good for you," but he still doesn't explain why adults who smoke
cannabis in the privacy of their own homes should be criminals. (Proposed
pot law opens door to abuse, says MP - Oct. 16).

Pot can be harmful, of course, but the degree of harm is substantially
lower than that from either tobacco or alcohol, and more in line with that
from caffeine, too much saturated fat, not enough roughage, not enough
exercise, etc., etc.; all of which are perfectly legal.

This, of course, refers only to individuals who actually consume cannabis.
For the greater society, it is even less harmful.

People high on pot are seldom violent or even unruly. The idea that it
corrupts morals is 1930s hysterical nonsense.

Tokers probably miss fewer workdays than drinkers, and although neither
should partake during working hours, the person doing cannabis is not as
dangerous as the person on booze.

There have been many studies on how cannabis affects drivers, but most
people haven't heard this because the police, our governments, and our
mainstream media don't like the conclusions made by the researchers.

Speaking of research, did anybody follow that great experiment conducted
this year in Ontario? You know, the one where the whole province had legal
pot for several months? Guess what happened? Nothing happened! No anarchy
in the streets; no spectacular car crashes by stoned drivers, no hordes of
Americans partying in the streets and taking their cannabis back across the
border.

What about the Americans? They would never, ever allow another country to
interfere in their domestic affairs, so they have no right to interfere in
the domestic affairs of others. Tighter borders? Money rules the U.S., and
as soon as tighter borders hurt the profit margins of corporate America,
they will be opened immediately.

Yes, virtually all the concerns raised by prohibitionists, like Dr. Lunney,
are either false or exaggerated: the risks to consumers of cannabis, the
risks to the greater society, the risks to our international relations.

There is simply no justification for, and no benefit to be gained by, the
prohibition against cannabis. If you aren't hurting anybody, you don't
deserve to be a criminal. This is not radical thinking, this is also the
opinion of the Canadian Senate and almost half of all Canadians.

Dr. Lunney expresses concern over children getting the message that pot is
less dangerous than other drugs. I, however, am more concerned about the
message that cannabis prohibition gives to young people: namely, that it's
okay to lie and exaggerate to them if you think it's for their own good,
and it's okay to make criminals out of people, no matter how harmless they
are, simply because you don't like them.

Brad Dietrich,
Port Alberni