RESPECT MARIJUANA

I would like to make a few points about the ongoing marijuana
decriminalization issue:

Firstly, I believe the government may be trying to lessen the workload of
police so they can focus on important crimes. Instead of wasting two or
three hours on paperwork to book a person for a couple of joints, they can
actually arrest the ones with the cocaine. Not every person who chooses to
use marijuana has or even wants to have such harmful substances.

Secondly, marijuana is not a physically addictive drug. Why isn't tobacco
considered the true, legal, gateway drug? We are told it is more addicting
than heroin and it does kill. Parliament has even taken recent measures to
protect our children from cigarettes. How many fines have the local police
handed out since the new law against juvenile smoking? If the police are
not handing out tickets for this, they have no room to say that tough
penalties work. Or is it that they only work on the people the police
selectively choose to charge?

Thirdly are the health issues. If anyone is using anything to the point
that it is harmful, it is time to stop. This includes practically anything.
Overuse of Tylenol has proven to cause liver damage and overuse of oxygen
can't be good. The press faintly recognizes the medicinal purposes of
marijuana. Just ask any cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, who after
trying marijuana can eat again.

It's about time Canada started recognizing marijuana for what it is, and
treat it with the same respect as the other decriminalized drug: Alcohol.

Kelly Grozell

moondog7@telusplanet.net