Pubdate: Sun, 24 Jul 2005
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 BC Newspaper Group and New Media Development
Contact:  http://www.langleytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230
Author: Frank Bucholtz
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

DOUBLE STANDARD ON JOINTS

Only Marijuana Smoke Allowed In Public Venues

Pro-pot advocates won't agree with me, but here goes.

How can people get away with toking up inside a concert venue, in the 
most intrusive jurisdiction in the Lower Mainland? Meanwhile, people 
can't light up cigarettes anywhere inside a building without severe reprimands.

One of our staff members attended the Bob Dylan concert in the 
Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on Thursday. I was told the next day 
that many people lit up joints during the concert, and they were 
asked politely to put them out. No other action was taken, and the 
same pot smokers later lit up again.

What would have happened if someone had dared to light a cigarette in 
that most venerable and beloved Vancouver theatre? Would they have 
received a polite rebuke, or would they have been asked to leave?

Why is there a double standard at work here? Why is it wrong to light 
up a cigarette, a legal product, but alright to light up a joint? Is 
it because it's a rock concert?

This whole incident illustrates the goofy Canadian attitude to 
marijuana. We seem to think it's just fine to encourage people to 
smoke dope, while at the same time governments are coming down heavy 
on the tobacco industry. There is no doubt that smoking cigarettes 
does lead to cancer and other diseases. Some studies indicate that 
heavy marijuana use may cause some of the same problems.

Any ingestion of smoke into the body can cause problems. That's why 
firefighters have a much higher risk of getting cancer - their 
occupation requires them to be exposed to smoke much more frequently 
than most other jobs.

I happen to agree with the ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, 
workplaces and other public places. I also happen to agree with 
government efforts to restrict cigarette smoking, and to try and keep 
cigarettes away fromw young people.

At the same time, I believe that the federal and provincial 
governments should be just as vigilant towards marijuana smoking. It 
is no better than cigarette smoking, and it certainly leaves just as 
much smoke and odour as cigarettes do.

I do believe that medicinal marijuana use makes sense. If smoking 
marijuana relieves pain from chronic illness, people should be 
allowed to smoke it - in their own homes. The federal government has 
made this legal.

Marijuana has far less effect on the body than morphine, which is 
given to people in hospitals for pain relief.

However, let's end the double standard. If you can't smoke cigarettes 
inside a theatre, you shouldn't be able to light up a joint.
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MAP posted-by: Beth