IT MUST BE "GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT" ON POT

Editor:

Canadians are being asked to pass judgment on the Senate Committee's
recommendations to legalize marijuana without full consideration being
given to the fact that there are no known roadside tests that law
enforcement officers can use at the present time to determine whether a
driver is handicapped by this substance as is the case with alcohol.

Until those tools are provided this proposal is premature.

Proponents of legalization will not raise it. Those opposing it may well
have other bases of disagreement.

The challenge being made here is that the media take a practical look of
the effect of those sixteen and older having unlimited access to a mood
modifier that may create as much carnage on the highways as would
unregulated use of alcohol.

"Years ago, they didn't have the .08 level to work with either, but they
worked at it and it became accepted," Mr. Thomson said. "There has got to
be a way, or someone should come up with a way, of testing marijuana levels
that can be proven in court." Mr. Thomson's son, along with four others
died in a crash where marijuana rather than alcohol was deemed a
causational factor.

"Guilty until proven innocent" must be the norm applied to full acceptance
of a new intoxicant into our society.

As yet this aspect of its effect has not been considered.

Jack Davies

Tillsonburg, Ontario