GET OFF THE DRUG WAR GRAVY TRAIN

Russell Barth, in a recent letter to the Campbell River Mirror
(Ignorance, not bliss) makes an astute observation about our country's
approach to certain drugs. We will not have the safety for our
children and communities that we desire until we get our politicians
and police off of the drug war gravy train.

We spend in excess of several billion dollars annually in an
unaccountable and unachievable exercise to rid the country of the
cannabis plant. We jail people, take their children, cease their
homes, threaten to extradite them to foreign countries. We make the
sick and dying suffer a bit more because we feel it is our right to
control what goes into a person's mouth or body. We act like bullies
and thugs to enforce a moral position that it is clear most Canadians
don't hold.

We need to end prohibition and develop new ways of dealing with this
problem. A better way that recognizes the facts and realities. This
would go a long way to reducing the prevalence of drugs in our
communities and make it less likely that my children, and your
reader's children, will encounter the dangers created by
prohibition.

If we don't want our children to use drugs, we need to get control. If
we want control, we need to do something different than we are right
now.

Moe Brondum

VP, Saskatchewan Marijuana Party