Pubdate: Fri, 26 Dec 2003
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Dennis J. Csatari
Note: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor, headline by newshawk

MARIJUANA LAWS ARE AN UTTER FAILURE

Letter Of The Day

RE "DOPE dream smoked - Court upholds pot possession law" (Dec. 24): How 
utterly moronic. Reading the horror stories surrounding the acquisition, 
possession and use of marijuana, you would think these folks never realized 
that Reefer Madness (the movie) is now nothing more than a source of amusement.

Is pot really more harmful than alcohol - a government approved 
mind-altering substance? How many tokers turn into obnoxious thugs, after a 
doobie or two?

As a recreational user of pot for the past 40 years, I have never felt the 
need to experiment with heroin or cocaine or to "chase the dragon." Thus, 
for me, marijuana is not a "gateway drug."

For those for whom pot is a chasm to moral decline, well, deal with those 
people much the same way we now deal with degenerate drunks, gamblers, 
overeaters, etc.

I truly wish the people making decisions, on any topic, would have, at 
least a nodding acquaintance with the issue. If you have never smoked pot, 
you don't know what you're talking about!

To maintain the legal sanctions on the possession and use of marijuana will 
not alter the fact a large proportion of the population have disregarded 
past and present sanctions.

The laws on marijuana have proven to be an utter failure, yet we must 
continue on this path. What else would one expect from a government, that 
also embraces the national gun registry?

Dennis J. Csatari

Hamilton

(Despite this latest court ruling, the laws on marijuana possession will 
change. Wish we were that sure about the gun registry)
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom