MARIJUANA: END DRUG WAR TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

Dear Editor,

Jonathan Maryniuk [Legalization solves nothing, Sept 4 Letters to the
Editor, Langley Advance News] correctly observed that legalizing marijuana
would not solve every problem associated with drug abuse.

It would solve many problems: it would take vast amounts of money from the
pockets of criminal gangs, prevent thousands of otherwise decent and
law-abiding Canadians from being branded criminals, reduce the growing
corruption of police, and restore respect for the law, which is now
routinely broken by so many.

Mr. Maryniuk advocates harsher penalties for drug users, but as a citizen
of the United States I can assure you that those penalties have created
many more problems than they have solved. We now lead the world in the
percentage of citizens incarcerated, a situation largely brought about by
our war on drugs.

Last summer my family visited Ottawa, where my children enjoyed the
dinosaur exhibit at the museum. Afterwards we strolled around downtown. My
wife and I very much enjoyed the obvious civility of that beautiful city.

In no large city in the United States would we have felt as safe, due to
the terrible problems caused directly by the war on drugs.

I hope that Canadians will observe the damage that the war on drugs has
done to my once free and peaceful country, and avoid the mistakes that have
so damaged us.

Ray Aldridge, Florida