Pubdate: Fri, 27 Apr 2007
Source: Packet & Times (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007, Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.orilliapacket.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2397
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n523/a03.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

BUSTING GROW-OPS HAS BIG PRICE TAG

Orillia landlords should not be held responsible for drug war failure.
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 and put
neighborhoods at risk of fire, Canadian policymakers should ignore the
reefer-madness hysteria of the U.S. government and instead look to
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,

policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Derek