KEEP POT ILLEGAL

Last week, the prime minister made it official that marijuana is likely to
be decriminalized in Canada. For over a year, superior-court judges have
been throwing out cases of possession of marijuana; soon, if anyone is
found to be in possession of less than 1.1 ounces, he or she will not be
charged. This is ridiculous.

Maybe government bureaucrats don't realize how much 1.1 ounces of marijuana
is. It has a street value of around $300. People who walk around with this
amount of marijuana are often dealers, and the last time I checked, drug
trafficking was still against the law.

I don't see how decriminalization of marijuana can do anything but harm to
our society. The government should not be wasting our tax dollars deciding
whether or not marijuana should be decriminalized. There are many more
pressing issues, such as the federal budget and education.

The decriminalization of marijuana will also set a dangerous legal
precedent. Before we know it, people are going to want to decriminalize
harder drugs, and the government bureaucrats in Ottawa might not know where
to draw the line.

Rob Ravinsky

Westmount