Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jun 2005 Source: Mississauga News (CN ON) Copyright: The Mississauga News 2005 Contact: http://www.mississauganews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/268 Author: Clifford Schaffer SPARK IT UP Dear Editor: There are some very good reasons for all nations to change the marijuana laws. The first is that marijuana laws were based on racism, ignorance, and nonsense. In some parts of the U.S. it was outlawed because it was thought it would make people go crazy. In other areas it was outlawed because of the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana, exactly the opposite of the modern myth. At no time did the lawmakers consider any credible evidence on marijuana's dangers. In fact, they explicitly rejected testimony by the American Medical Association that marijuana was not a dangerous drug and there was no reason to make it illegal. The second reason is that every government commission that has studied the subject has concluded that the marijuana laws cause more harm than good, no matter what you think about marijuana. Clifford Schaffer DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy California - --- MAP posted-by: Josh