POT LESS HARMFUL THAN ALCOHOL

I am writing in response to an editorial comment after a letter you
published from Robert Sharpe in the United States.

You mentioned you received a number of letters from the U.S. about
marijuana, but that you wanted Canadian comments.

Well, I would first like to tell you I read the letter and your response in
the Canadian Drug News section of www.mapinc.org, which I read regularly to
see the state of opinion on drug laws in Canada. I have not actually read
your newspaper and I haven't even read the article that prompted the letter
in response. I suspect your American correspondents are similar.

My views on marijuana are pretty much identical to the views in the Senate
report. I think the Senate report was the result of an honest, unbiased
investigation into the harms of marijuana and it confirms what I already
know: as far as scientific evidence is concerned, marijuana is less harmful
than alcohol.

I honestly believe individuals and society would be much better off if
people were allowed to do the less dangerous thing and smoke pot rather
than drink alcohol. There is much less chance of addiction, it is much less
debilitating for the stupid people that drive under the influence of drugs,
there is no overdose potential, and any long-term heath consequences are
pretty subtle.

I resent the fact I am prevented by law from taking the least harmful
mind-altering drug there is. I also don't like being bombarded with
government misinformation that exaggerates the dangers of pot and minimizes
or ignores the dangers of alcohol. Or worse, blames the substance, itself,
for the harms caused by marijuana prohibition, like dangerous grow-ops or
financing terrorism; neither of which would happen if pot could be legally
produced and consumed.

I have no idea why the government willfully ignores the evidence. We tried
alcohol prohibition and it worked; alcohol consumption was cut in half.
Unfortunately, although society benefited from the reduction in alcohol
consumption, a huge black market was created and anyone drinking alcohol
had to be worried about whether the alcohol they bought would kill them.

We actually tried making a dangerous mind-altering substance illegal and
discovered as bad as it was to let people legally consume alcohol, it was
worse to criminalize it. I firmly believe that regulating marijuana, rather
than prohibiting it, would be an even greater benefit for society since pot
is less harmful than alcohol.

Jim Summers

Waterloo, Ont.

Ed. note: Waterloo is a little closer to home than Washington, D.C., but
how do residents in Merritt feel about the current drug laws? Is there
anyone opposed to the Senate report which recommends decriminalizing marijuana?