Pubdate: Thu, 06 Jun 2002
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.fyitoronto.com/torsun.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Wayne Phillips
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1044/a09.html?1140
Note: Parenthetical remark provided by the Sun editor; headline provided by 
Newshawk

CANNABIS PROHIBITION IS A REPREHENSIBLE BLUNDER

RE "SLAVES tend pot ...Viets smuggled in by crime gangs" (Sun, June 3) :

Do politicians favour cannabis prohibition because it finances crime gangs 
at home or the criminal element abroad?

It is incomprehensible why a government - who could take effective measures 
to remove the profit factor from grow operations by either reclassifying 
cannabis or removing it from the CDSA entirely - doesn't.

Meanwhile, that prohibition will continue to further empower crime gangs. 
CANNABIS PROHIBITION IS A REPREHENSIBLE BLUNDER THAT SERVES NO ONE'S 
long-term best interest.

Likewise, it is a mistake to think that if the government moves in the 
direction of a reconsidered cannabis initiative it will send out a message 
that it condones cannabis use. Government will simply be recognizing there 
are more effective means available that it is prepared to initiate in order 
to better cope with the realities of cannabis use in contemporary society.

Wayne Phillips

(Would you make the same argument about harder drugs?)
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MAP posted-by: Beth