Pubdate: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2003 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Rick Reimer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) ARTICLE TRIVIALIZED IMPORTANT CIVIL-RIGHTS ISSUES Re: An afternoon of sex, drugs and lock 'n' load on Parliament Hill, July 30. Congratulations. For the sake of a crassly humorous title, and using only one small, obscurely situated article, you managed to trivialize three important civil-rights issues. The same-sex marriage debate is not about "sex," medicinal marijuana users are not talking about "drugs" (at least not in the puerile, Citizen sense) and the anti-gun registry protesters are not espousing firing weapons willy-nilly. The people your article insulted had the conviction and took the time to stand out in the hot sun to demonstrate heartfelt views on important Canadian issues of the day. If only the Citizen could give those issues the prominence accorded to, say, I.H. Asper's views on the Israel/Palestinian situation. Fortunately for Mr. Asper, he can give himself as much press space as he likes, and therefore I don't expect to see him "partying" with us on the Hill any time soon. Rick Reimer, Killaloe - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin