POT LAW WORSE THAN WHAT WE HAVE NOW

Re: 'Pot law overhaul will go up in smoke', Editorial, May 30.

Congratulations on the most comprehensive and accurate evaluation of
the issues surrounding the government's proposed pot laws.

I will copy and send this editorial to my MP to ensure that this view
is not only that of one of their crazy constituents, but is one
approaching the mainstream.

In fact, if you really look at the proposed legislation, in the
absence of the usual law and order and gateway drug rhetoric that
accompanies this issue, the law proposed is worse than what we have
now.

It is disgraceful that the brain trust of the Minister of Justice for
Canada could not create a law that eliminates all aspects of
criminality in relation to marijuana and its derivatives.

It is reprehensible that our elected officials should take heed from a
nation that, through no fault of its own citizens, jails its own for
longer periods for the simple possession of marijuana than they do for
murders.

The so-called war on drugs has contributed, in the most part, to the
increase in the number of Americans imprisoned in the U.S. from 1
million in 1992 by 2 million more in 2002.

We need to send a message to our MPs that, within reason (and this is
within reason), we need to make laws for Canadians, by Canadians.

Under existing laws, marijuana has become a cash crop for biker gangs,
the triads and Vietnamese gangs and stiffening the penalty for
cultivation plays right into their hands in so many ways.

Clandestine and unsafe operations, stolen hydro in the hundreds of
millions of dollars, and gangland tactics reminiscent of Prohibition
pose as much of a threat to Canadian citizens as does the lost
opportunity of a person forced to carry a criminal record for the
simple possession and/or cultivation for personal use.

If there should be a law related to marijuana, perhaps it should be
that it should be against the law to sell marijuana for money, or in
return for anything of any value.

In other words, by law, marijuana must be free. Let's see what effect
that would have on organized crime.

As a parent of teenagers and a taxpayer, I believe that every Canadian
is simply tired of the wasted resources, paid for by us, to control
the use of marijuana.

We need to tell politicians, every day, that Canadians are able to
make the right decisions for themselves and we don't need a gang of
criminals or politicians to tell us what we can and cannot do in the
privacy of our own homes.

Thanks again for producing an editorial that hits on the faults of
this proposed legislation and is right on the mark.

Now we have to get the politicians to be accountable to the
voters.

Brad Blaney