TAKE ARCHAIC MARIJUANA LAW OFF BOOKS

The federal government's plan to fine small-time marijuana users "as little
as $100" under soon-to-be introduced decriminalization legislation
(Gazette, May 13) is disappointing news. It would be nice to see outright
legalization of marijuana use in this country, thereby taking an archaic
law off the books.

Both alcohol and tobacco are far more harmful than marijuana, and each is
responsible for killing more than 50,000 North Americans annually. It is a
travesty of logic, then, that the relatively innocuous drug marijuana
remains illegal or semi-illegal.

As for the U.S. government putting pressure on Canada to abandon plans to
decriminalize marijuana, it is hypocrisy in bright shades. If the U.S.
government truly cared about the welfare of its citizens, it would try to
amend its constitution to ban guns, not marijuana. Guns, after all, are
responsible for the deaths of anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 Americans
every year.

Frank Zappa once quipped that the U.S. is a nation of laws - badly written
and randomly enforced. There is no need to follow the U.S. government's
stance on marijuana.

Manish Patwari

LaSalle