GOING TO POT

We are being inundated with marihuana hysteria recently, the authorities in
Surrey estimate 4,500 grow-ops with revenues in excess of $2.5-billion,
bigger than Jimmy Pattison, and all without the stigma of being a used car
salesman.

We are being told over and over how organized crime is controlling all the
pot in the universe and how it is being traded for crack over the border.
Who are these organized crime people? And why have I never met them?

We are not being told that a lot of people smoke pot and that a large
amount of them grow it to avoid outside contacts. We grow pot in virtually
every corner of British Columbia' cheap power, cops with better things to
do and gorgeous summers will guarantee the consistent production of the
best weed in the world.

And like American prohibition, which Canada greatly benefited from, a law
becomes useless when the average, honest citizen disregards it.

There is no doubt that some criminals will and have gotten involved, making
good the argument that we should legalize it sooner than later.

The average pot grower in BC is not making much money, if any. A lot are
hopelessly addicted and smoke most of what they grow; they still drive VW
vans and are completely harmless.

It is also quite uncommon to see a pothead use crack, these are two very
distinct and separate worlds which are erroneously associated by the
authorities and the media. Like beer, pot is here to stay and no amount of
fear mongering is going to change that. It is time for Canada to set the
tone on this issue and abolish the laws that most people simply don't want
or care about.

Robert Saint Amour,
Campbell River