IMPLEMENT SENATORS' SUGGESTIONS

Dear Sir:

There seems to be a lot of emotional language being used regarding the
report of the committee headed by Senator Nolin. Lost in the rhetoric is
one essential question: Why did they do it? Why did the senators, who have
been handed a political hot potato, and, I am sure, want to do the best for
Canadians, and are compassionate, caring people, recommend relegalizing
cannabis?

Surely they would have foreseen the hate, criticism and mudslinging to
which they have been subjected following the release of their report. It
would have been so much easier to have just recommended minor changes, or a
continuation of the status quo, and deflected the objections that would
have followed as just a bunch of potheads complaining, that I have looked
for any reasons why they would have subjected themselves to all that they
have had to endure. I wondered whether they have all gone insane.

I don't think that is realistic. I wondered whether they are all stupid,
and have been fooled by the glib arguments of the legalizers. I hardly
think that all of them could be stupid or gullible. I wondered whether they
might be so malicious that they would tear apart the fabric of our society
by recommending reform, but that does not seem reasonable. Never has anyone
suggested that the Senate is anything worse than valueless. Could it be
that those who would retain the laws as they are simply did not come out
and present them with any information in support of the status quo? Not
very likely.

Could the arguments in favor of the status quo lacked credibility? Perhaps.
Could it be that when they had studied the information available, the
results of the studies, the recommendations of many committees which had
previously studied this problem, the input of professionals in the field,
and the differing approaches being taken in other parts of the world, that
the arguments for reform were so compelling that the only recommendation
that they could make, in all good conscience, is for relegalization of
cannabis?

I came to the conclusion that this is the only realistic answer to the
question. In other words, the senators, acting in our best interests and
ignoring theirs, have, after studying everything, and seeing the big
picture, recommended relegalization. How can I, a reasonable person who has
not had the benefit of the information they had, without the benefit of the
two years of investigation and public hearings, question their conclusions?

The last 30 years since the LeDain commission recommended decriminalization
have seen many people arrested, fined and jailed, and their lives seriously
affected because of the prohibition against taking the herb cannabis. Our
Parliament directed the Senators to look at the situation and make
recommendations, which they have. Now I feel we should trust the senators.
If we do not, we are calling them either stupid, insane or malicious. We
should direct our elected politicians to make the changes that the
committee recommended, and finally try something new to deal with this
situation. Let us now get on with the job of implementation.

Bruce Symington

Medicine Hat, AB