POLICE CHIEF'S PIPE DREAM NEEDS DOSE OF REALITY

Criminalization A Mistake From Start: Legalizing Marijuana

Re: "Police chief slams legal pot plan," Journal, Sept. 5.

I can't believe it! An intelligent approach to marijuana and from our
senators of all people.

I have never used pot but over the years (I'm a senior) I've known many
people who did so I'm familiar with the product and its effects. It's
readily available, used by young and old, and if it has a bad side it is
not as vicious as alcohol or tobacco, or VLTs for that matter.

The criminalization of pot was the result of one of Emily Murphy's missions
and it turned out to be a mistake. Of course governments, having made a
decision no matter how wrong or stupid it turns out to be, are unwilling to
change, which is another mistake.

If the government does get the courage to decriminalize pot, it may have to
face wild objections from the U.S. Well, this is our country and whereas we
will take into consideration U.S. concerns, they don't own us and sooner or
later we must run things our way.

One advantage of legalizing pot is the resources it would free up for the
police departments that are continually short of funds so they can more
effectively pursue real criminals who are a threat to society.

Of course it may be hard to convince police Chief Bob Wasylyshen who
commented: "The direction that I hope we would be going is to advocate for
a drug-free society."

My thought on this was: "What's he been smoking?"

Jim Rose, Edmonton