MARIJUANA PUSHERS SHOULD BE JAILED

THE EDITOR:

Are we supposed to pity poor Tim Felger ['Felger busted in Friday pot
raid,' Times, Page 1, June 3; 'Pot activist Felger blames CIA for
world's drug problems,' Times Letters, June 3]? In two television
interviews he bragged about breaking the law, then complains that he
got arrested - and asks what happened to his 10,000 plants. What chutzpah!

This guy abused our municipal election to publicize himself - he's in
federal politics - and even put one of his signs on the fence at a
school - bringing his campaign to legalize a dangerous drug to the
attention of adolescents.

For that alone, he ought to have been arrested.

His party's leader, Marc-Boris St. Maurice, was interviewed on CBC
Radio a few months ago, bragging that the Marijuana Party would sell
pot on the Internet - and said they would give political tax receipts
to the buyers. Talk about abusing the democratic process.

Marijuana is a harmful drug with serious side effects. The British
Medical Journal recently reported that marijuana is causally linked to
schizophrenia. Marijuana smoke contains up to 70 per cent more
cancer-causing agents than tobacco smoke, according to the National
Institute of Health, which also says it is the drug most implicated in
treatment episodes for youth.

The Institute of Medicine stated in 1999: "Because of the health risks
associated with smoking, smoked marijuana should generally not be
recommended for long-term medical use. . . . . In no way do we wish to
suggest that patients should medicate themselves with marijuana."

The majority of the medical community doesn't support the fraudulent
"compassion" of the campaign for "medical-excuse" marijuana. Those who
would normalize drug abuse want to see the marijuana culture flourish,
because it's their gateway drug to attract young people.

We don't need more access to yet another stupefying agent to addle
people's brains. True compassion would give sick people access to
scientifically proven medicines and oppose this exploitation of the
sick and dying as a propaganda ruse to bootleg drug legalization into
our culture. Those who say the war on drugs has been lost are wrong:
it's just that too many spineless politicians have lacked the courage
to fight it. Of course you lose a war if you give in. These
dope-pushers deserve the harshest punishment available.

Ron Gray

Abbotsford