HERE'S MY TWO CENTS WORTH ON THE MARIJUANA ISSUE.

I believe the government is making this too difficult. The laws that
the majority of Canadian people follow when it comes to drinking
should be put in place when it comes to smoking pot: We have to be 19
years or older, not 16, like the government is thinking; we cannot
smoke and drive; we can not openly smoke in public, only in designated
areas; we can only buy it in licensed establishment, just like The
Beer Store or LCBO; the companies that grow it for these stores will
also need to be licensed, just like the beer or alcohol companies; we
should be able to grow it for ourselves, just like you can make your own
beer and wine; we can't be stoned and disorderly in public.

That's just a few ideas. The licensing of sellers and manufacturers
can happen in the future, but for right now, it should not be against the
law to grow your own. What's wrong with working all day and coming home,
and either having a drink or smoking some pot?

It still should be illegal to have large-scale operations, for the
sole purpose of selling marijuana to the States. If we were able to
grow it for ourselves, we would not have to buy it from the illegal
market, which in turn would reduce the amount of illegal growers. If
the States did the same thing, then the American smokers would not have
to buy Canadian; they too, couldn grow their own.

That would eliminate the underground industry, or at least help.

M. St. John, Ottawa

(We'd prefer to start with decriminalization, but who knows what the
future holds)