POT LAWS WILL LEAD TO 'DRUGGIES' DRIVING

To the editor:

Martin Couchon, minister of justice, says it's OK for you to have 15 grams
of pot, or enough to roll 15 or 20 joints, in your possession at one time.
This is considered a minor offence and you would not have a record. This is
encouraging. Violators would be required to pay $100 to $250 for minors or
between $150 to $400 for adults.

This could be arguably discriminatory. If you are caught with 15 to 20
grams, you could possibly be charged and at the discretion of the police
you could end up in jail. Another cost to the taxpayer.

Anyone caught trafficking could receive a life sentence in prison. This
seems kind of harsh considering the fact that murderers have received
sentences down to as low as house arrest, or no sentence at all, which of
course is in accordance with our imbecilic criminal court standards.

The question is, if you are going to be charged for selling this illicit
weed, where are the people going to buy or grow it? In order to protect the
general public from these "druggies" Couchon is now prepared to spend a
whopping $245 million more of our tax money for law enforcement.

There is absolutely no mention of the cost of rehabilitating the people who
get hooked on this drug or the adverse effect it could have on their body,
and how much of an added cost to the already overtaxed medical plan?

It wasn't that many years ago, the government was telling us that smoking
was injurious to our health. Now the Feds are encouraging people to smoke
pot by decriminalizing its use.

Are we going to end up with a bunch of out of control hop heads driving on
our streets? Has anybody considered the added cost of auto and life
insurance, an increase of crime, accidents and deaths?

B. Coster, Westbank