WEED IS WONDERFUL

In response to John Mast's Dec. 12 letter Keep possession of pot a
crime: John, you're uninformed. The real gateway drug is alcohol, a
poison that affects every organ in your body and one in which
governments have their fingers up to the elbow. Read the headlines
about how many people kill their drinking buddies. Nobody smokes a bag
of weed and then kills the person smoking with him.

The number of people who smoke a little weed when the day is done -
people who would receive a criminal record if they were caught doing
something that harms no one - it staggers the mind. If grass was made
legal it would no longer be something drug dealers were able to make
money from.

With so many people quitting smoking, where will taxes come from? The
legalization of pot will be the next big sin-tax grab.

Tourists flock to Amsterdam to enjoy legal weed in tea houses as well
as the beauty of a cosmopolitan city. What would it do to bolster
Canada's tourism if travelers were able to enjoy a little weed in a
Canadian tea house?

I'll bet you're against medicinal marijuana, too. It's a godsend to
people who suffer from many different things. Speak with an oncologist
who has seen chemo patients able to eat again and stop throwing up
after smoking a little weed, people who could end up with a criminal
record for scoring it on the streets.

The drug war against pot will soon end. If you can't get with the
times at least stop being a roadblock to better things for Canadians.

Bob Wilson

Winnipeg

(The notion that any drug is a completely harmless boon to mankind is
at least as naive and simplistic as the "reefer madness" mentality you
disparage.)