DRUG LAW REFORM A HIGH PRIORITY

Drug law reform is a high priority for the 37,000 Canadians who are
arrested for marijuana possession each year.

The fact that most Canadians agree it's not worthy of criminal sanctions
makes it a priority.

As for being against people polluting their bodies, I suppose we'll be
criminalizing fast food, alcohol and tobacco soon, as well.

These are, of course, stupid analogies, as we don't make people criminals
for what they choose to consume. It's a health and social issue.

But we do criminalize the use of some substances and that is where the
legal inequity lies. Criminality is ridiculous and hypocritical for
marijuana and this encourages young people to ignore the law.

The Senate and parliamentary studies on the non-medical use of drugs have
been on-going for years and the harm-reduction principle has been presented
in various constitutional challenges.

The fact that these committees are concluding with recommendations to act
can hardly come as a surprise to our health minister and attorney-general
if they have been paying any attention at all to what is going on in this
country.

These guys should stop the childish remarks and just deal with the issues.

Mack Mcleod,

Thornhill