LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD BE ASININE

The reason I am writing to you is to tell you just how stupid it is for the
Senate Committee to recommend legalizing the use of marijuana.

I may be just a normal grade 8 student, but I know that marijuana is a
strong and addictive drug. By legalizing marijuana you aren't doing us all
a big favour, you are more or less ruining our and your future.

There is no good reason to legalize marijuana. Why don't you just make it
available only through doctors, like morphine and they would give it to
people who really need it for medical reasons?

Perhaps it wasn't a problem when you were young, but I know that kids like
to experiment. If you encourage them to try a legal drug like marijuana,
they may just want to continue and try stronger ones. And you are not
helping police either, because it is legal to smoke and drive.

If the point of legalizing marijuana is to put drug dealers out of
business, you would be better off giving kids money for reporting them.
Finally, stop making decisions based on the past or present, start thinking
about the future. If you think that you are going to make profit through
taxes, think about it this way: will you be able to pay for lost lives, if
kids get hooked on marijuana and then move on to stronger drugs. You can go
ahead, smoke pot and ruin your life. We won't care. But do not drag our
lives down with you.

Can you imagine your own life 20 years from now, when you are old and sick
and those kids that you encouraged to use marijuana will be running this
country? We may then set our own rules and, who knows, maybe legalize
euthanasia.

Joanna Stroinska

Woodstock