NO HARM TO OTHERS

Victoria -- Re Marijuana Drawback (letter, Aug. 24): Regardless of how
harmful marijuana (or other recreational drugs) may be to the user,
criminal sanctions are appropriate only when harm to another is involved.
No one suggests "decriminalizing" murder, for example, because that is a
real crime, whereas the ingestion of recreational drugs is not. Government
has no business creating crimes where none actually exist.

The foolishness of doing so is proven by the fact that we waste hundreds of
millions of tax dollars every year shoring up the profits of organized
crime. The net effect of the biggest drug busts is to maintain the price of
that drug high enough to generate enormous profits, out of which truly
criminal activities (extortion, fraud, car theft, etc.) are financed.

When Justice Minister Martin Cauchon backed down on his timid suggestion
that marijuana use be decriminalized, he should have been toasted by Hells
Angels from coast to coast for ensuring their profits will continue for
years to come.

The easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to deliver a crippling blow to
organized crime is to eliminate the profits by legalizing the use of all
recreational drugs, and regulating and taxing them as we do tobacco and
alcohol. We may have no love for tobacco companies, but they are far more
under government control than any biker gang, and they pay taxes, and can
be sued as well.

It is legal to kill oneself; how can any lesser self-inflicted injury be
rationally considered a crime?