Pubdate: Tue, 17 Jul 2007
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n838/a10.html?
Author: Steve Finlay

STUPID POT LAWS

Re: Safe Addictions, Legal Pot And Grammar, letter to the editor, July 13.

Thomas Barnwell implies in his letter that being a daily pot smoker 
makes a person think and write incomplete thoughts in the passive 
voice. His comment on another letter-writer's grammar is correct, but 
the linkage to pot is illusory. Being a daily pot smoker for 40 years 
did not stop Pierre Berton from writing 50 books and winning the 
Governor General's Award three times.

More importantly, even if consuming pot, beer or anything else can 
detract from a person's ability to think and write, this does not 
justify continuing to treat such consumption as a criminal offence. 
There are far more urgent uses for the tax dollars that come out of 
my pocket than preventing others from doing stupid things. Plus, 
prohibition makes organized crime syndicates and terrorists extremely 
rich. And, finally, using prohibition as the means of preventing 
people from consuming deleterious substances does not work, never did 
work and never will work.

Steve Finlay, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Burnaby, B.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom