Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2005
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: The Windsor Star 2005
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: Derek Telasco
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POT NOT MAIN PROBLEM

Re: Three Men Charged With Trafficking Marijuana (March 10). According to 
this story, three men were arrested with 92.4 grams of marijuana, which 
carries a price tag of $2,300 on the street.

A little quick math tells me that this works out to roughly $710 Cdn per 
ounce. The business section of the same paper lists the March 9 closing 
price of gold at $532 Cdn per ounce.

If marijuana was legalized and controlled like alcohol, Al Capone-style 
criminals (remember the results of alcohol prohibition) would not be able 
to make 1.3 times the price of gold for growing a harmless weed in their 
back yards.

As a result, our prisons would have more room for people like Jim Roszko, 
and our police would have more resources available to investigate them earlier.

The media was quick to make the connection between Roszko's shootings and 
marijuana growing, while downplaying all the rest of the illegal activities 
he was involved in.

As I see it, this guy was a well-known psychopath with an unregistered gun, 
a long list of prior violent charges, and an intense hatred for police. The 
fact that he grew his own gold had nothing to do with his motivation for 
shooting four Mounties.

We need to start concentrating our resources on the real criminals who are 
preying on us daily, rather than wasting time worrying about which 
substance people are using to relax after a hard day of paying taxes.

It sickens me to read that child molesters get 18 months of unsupervised 
house arrest (March 10) in this country, while all we can think about is 
persecuting people who choose a safer alternative to alcohol.

Derek Telasco

Harrow 
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MAP posted-by: Beth