CIGARETTE MODEL OK FOR DRUGS TOO

Re: Controls on marijuana should consider hazards, July 24.

I agree with most of what you say, but I have a few comments.

- - The headline seems to have little connection to the message of the
editorial. Perhaps, "Controls on marijuana should be similar to those on
alcohol and tobacco" would have been more accurate.

- - Alcohol is not controlled the same way as tobacco. Which model do you
favour for marijuana? Don't forget the B.C. government is planning to
withdraw from the liquor distribution business.

- - Most, if not all, your arguments in favour of allowing adults to choose
marijuana apply with equal force, it seems to me, to all the drugs that are
currently prohibited. The editorial thus seemed incomplete because it
didn't address how you envisage how other currently illegal drugs should be
"controlled."

I feel strongly that no government has the right to punish anyone for
ingesting anything, however harmful, so my solution is to allow the corner
store to sell any drug - the tobacco model if you will.

Alan Randell, Victoria