Pubdate: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 Source: Guelph Mercury (CN ON) Copyright: 2002 Guelph Mercury Newspapers Limited Contact: http://www.guelphmercury.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1418 Author: Grant G.O. Duncan CANNIBIS LEGALIZATION WON'T DESTROY SOCIETY Dear Editor - Once again, somebody has missed the point. Carol Anne Brett, who wrote the letter "Report on Marijuana Lists the Dangers", states many of the well known dangers of cannabis use (as were covered in the Senate Committee's report on cannabis). However, she fails to answer the most fundamental of all questions regarding our current anti-cannabis laws: Is it right to punish those caught using the drug with jail time and the horrible stigma of a criminal record? Ms. Brett fails to address the fact that cannabis has fewer side effects than most prescription medicines, a lower abuse potential than coffee or alcohol or tobacco and has never directly caused a fatality in it's 4,000-plus year history. Furthermore, she misquotes a part of the report; THC does not stay in the user's body for up to 30 days after use, THC metabolites stay in the body. These metabolites are not psychoactive (THC on the other hand is psychoactive); in effect they have less physiological impact than eating a vitamin 'C' tablet. Also, what is she trying to infer by stating that cannabis "...was involved in 70 per cent of the approximately 50,000 drug related charges in 1999..."? Wouldn't this statistic alone support at the very least the decriminalization of cannabis? Imagine how many hours the police must spend to arrest, investigate and charge 35,000 non-violent cannabis consumers. How much of our tax dollars are going to continue to go to cannabis prohibition while violent crime, theft and other victim-causing crimes continue unabated in our cities and towns? Cannabis is as safe as a psychoactive substance can get (even aspirin produces fatalities) and yet we still adhere to the policy that it's use must be stamped out. Why? Certainly not because of its "side effects" else we would be banning alcohol, tobacco, aspirin, pain medication, coffee, etc.; the list goes on and on and on. It is time we all grew up and realized that cannabis legalization (or decriminalization) will not destroy our society; there are many more important things we should all be worrying about. Grant G.O. Duncan Sudbury - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom