Pubdate: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 Source: Maple Ridge News (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Maple Ridge News Contact: http://www.mapleridgenews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1328 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n515/a04.html Author: George Kosinski GETTING IT STRAIGHT Editor, The News: Re: Drugs, treatment and Thornhill focus of MLA's town hall meeting (The News, April 22). Let me see if I've got this right: the residents of Maple Ridge are oblivious to the fact that - even without legalizing the sale of marijuana - allowing people to grow four or five plants in their homes would wipe out 95 per cent of the grow-ops; and MLA Randy Hawes believes that people who enjoy marijuana or require it for medical conditions, or entrepreneurs who provide it to those people, should be treated as criminals because otherwise it would take longer for Canadians to cross the border into the U.S. Am I right on both counts? Hawes' claim that marijuana is a gateway drug can, of course, be discounted since it is not supported by provincial or federal statistics on drug use. George Kosinski Gibsons, B.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake