POT PROHIBITION IS DEADLY

Kitchener residents concerned about risky home-based marijuana grow
operations need to consider that the hazards posed are a direct result of
marijuana prohibition, not the plant itself. Legitimate farmers do not grow
produce in booby-trapped basements in rented homes.

Kitchener council's commitment to marijuana criminalization guarantees more
of the very same grow operations the council hopes to eradicate. There is a
big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from
drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana use
and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's
really needed is a regulated market with enforceable age controls. Right
now kids have an easier time buying pot than beer.

More disturbing is the manner in which marijuana's black market status
exposes users to sellers of hard drugs. Marijuana may be relatively
harmless compared to legal alcohol -- the plant has never been shown to
cause an overdose death -- but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime,
consumers will continue to come into contact with hard drugs like crack.

Robert Sharpe

Program Officer

The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation

Washington, D.C.