Pubdate: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 Source: Red Deer Advocate (CN AB) Copyright: 2005 Red Deer Advocate Contact: http://www.reddeeradvocate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2492 Author: Don Shunt Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) LINKING POT TO SHOOTINGS A MISTAKE Re. the recent Canadian Press article, headlined Top cop apologizes for misleading claims in cop killer case: I was surprised to see an apparently reputable and well-run news agency react to the recent RCMP slayings with such uninformed and inaccurate statements. The article was not based on the facts or circumstances of the crime at all. It also failed to differentiate between legal medical cannabis grows and black market grows. It places the whole cannabis community in a bad light when this type of article fails to recognize that many thousands of Canadians rely on cannabis for medical problems. Many Canadians are literally forced to grow their own supply of meds because they have been refused access by Health Canada. Unfortunately, the medical user with a few plants in her/his closet for medical reasons is lumped in with million-dollar grow-ops. It is time to differentiate between grow-ops and closet grows! The way to defeat commercial grow-ops is not through prohibition, which has never worked for drugs or alcohol, but rather through legalization and regulation. This would almost immediately crash the cannabis prices and effectively render commercial grow-ops a money-losing proposition, with a big risk for a small gain. Not only that, it would free up all the resources being wasted on cannabis prohibition to be used to battle meaningful and important problems, such as meth labs, chop shops and child pornography. The property owned by James Roszko did not house a grow-op. The 20 marijuana plants he had were discovered by police there to investigate other matters. This case is all about a cop-hating, deranged lunatic who - because of the inadequacies of our judicial system - was left at large to murder those he hated most. RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli has apologized for blaming the Mounties' deaths on pot. "Within hours of the deaths, RCMP spokespeople told the press that they had found 300 plants worth $400,000 during a marijuana raid that involved Green Team Members," according to The Canadian Press. "It later was revealed that the investigation was for auto-part theft rather than pot, that the Green Team hadn't been in attendance (rather it was rookies from the auto-theft unit), and that the killer was a well-known psychotic gun nut with a history of violent outbursts and weapons offences, not an organized drug criminal." Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan refused to reply to Zaccardelli's recent comments. Almost immediately after the shooting, McLellan called for a tough anti-growing bill to be rammed through Parliament at the earliest possibility. She has admitted, however, that she was shaken by the police deaths that occurred in her home province, verging on a confession that she may have over-reacted. Even Conservative MP Randy White, known for his outrageous anti-pot sentiment and calls for harsher sentences for pot lovers, criticized McLellan for capitalizing on police deaths in her call for tougher laws, when he admitted that pot was likely not to blame for the four officers' deaths. "The first thing that happened was that everybody acted based on a lack of information," White told the press. All in all, politicians seem to agree that the government will eventually react to the tragedy, but that marijuana was not a factor. Whether the abrupt about-face will be enough to stop legislative or budget changes that would increasingly target grow-ops has yet to be seen. Don Shunt Rimbey - ---