Pubdate: Wed, 23 Mar 2005
Source: Jasper Booster (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 The Jasper Booster
Contact:  http://www.jasperbooster.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/788
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n431/a09.html?40125

PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK SAYS READER

Jasper Booster -- The March 9 Jay Walking column was right on target. 
Hazardous marijuana grow operations are a direct result of marijuana 
prohibition. Legitimate farmers do not steal electricity to grow produce in 
the basements of rented homes. If legal, growing marijuana would be less 
profitable then farming tomatoes. As it stands, the drug war distorts 
market forces such that an easily grown weed is literally worth its weight 
in gold.

Rather than continue to subsidize organized crime, Canadian policymakers 
should ignore the reefer madness hysteria of the U.S. government and 
instead to look their own Senate for guidance. In the words of Senator 
Pierre Claude Nolin, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that 
cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated 
not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue."

- - Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom