REPLACE "POT" WITH "BOOZE" AND "GROWING" WITH "DISTILLING"

Dear Editor:

I have just one simple question about your story "Drug blitz shuts down
local marijuana growers" (February 1).

Will PR Operation Green Sweep's use of our tax dollars to enforce the
prohibition approach to pot policy, which admittedly sells papers, props up
police budgets, and scores political points, actually have any significant
impact on the usage rates, price or production of pot?

History says no: Alcohol prohibition in North America produced tens of
thousands of pontificating news articles and well-publicized police raids
identical to those accompanying the Green Sweet PR stunt, and the
production and smuggling of illegal (and often poisonous) home-distilled
hooch increased annually for the entire period it was prohibited.

Sound familiar? Your publication's coverage of Operation Green Sweep sure
does to any student of history if you replace "pot" with "booze" and
"growing" with "distilling."

If something that is easy to produce is made worth its weight in gold by
prohibition policies, and that fact is constantly publicized through the
press, then there is no stopping people from trying to cash in on the
tax-free jackpot no matter how much of the public purse is pumped into
prohibition.

Society survived ending alcohol prohibition, despite dire predictions that
are also being repeated about pot in the present, and most of Europe has
already ended pot prohibition with no apparent problems.

Only organized criminals will be put out if we end the prohibition on pot,
as the press and politicians will have no problem finding other issues to
pontificate about.

According to poll after poll, most Canadians prefer pot decriminalized or
legalized, and share my hope tha the Supreme Court will end the prohibition
of pot later this year when it pronounces judgement on our pot policies.

The police have more productive things to do with their precious time than
protect us from greedy home gardeners, and our tax-dollars have better uses
than providing them with free room and board in prison to the tune of
$50,000 per year per pot grower.

Chris Donald, Dartmouth, NS