Pubdate: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n1113/a01.html Author: Russell Barth POLICE POT HYPE The police's assertions that marijuana is a major threat to road safety is not supported by the science or the numbers. These "drugged-driving" laws were designed to let police profile the young, the poor, people of colour and people with non-regulation haircuts. I guess federally licensed medical marijuana users like myself should consider ourselves banned from driving for life, but the neighbour driving, gooned on antihistamines can relax. Sounds fair. Sure, pot can impair some people, but it doesn't impair every user, and it doesn't impair every time. What about cell phones, coffee, smokes, loud passengers, food in hand, medications, inexperience and plain old stupidity? Canadians smoke more pot than any other country. We use the most potent pot and we admit to toking and driving more than any other country. Why are we not seeing four or even five times as many crashes as we are? Like everything police say about marijuana -- it is all just a lot of hype. This policy will clog our courts, saddle tens of thousands of Canadians with criminal records, and do nothing at all to improve road safety. The public is being duped. This is just another scam to keep cops busy, lawyers rich, and jails full. Russell Barth, Nepean, Ont. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake