Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 Source: Caledon Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2009 Caledon Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.caledoncitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4619 Author: Russell Barth GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES WILL HELP ORGANIZED CRIME Regarding "Tackling crime, protecting Canadians is a priority of the government;" (Dufferin - Caledon MP David Tilson's column in the July 9 edition of the Citizen). Tilson is misleading Canadians. Having no economic, environmental, foreign policy or social plans, the Conservatives are using crime to pander to their myopic, visceral, misinformed and punishment-happy voter base. Bill C-15, for example, appears designed specifically to increase crime. Mandatory sentences will scare off the mom- 'n'-pop pot growers, who represent direct market competition to the gangsters. With the little guys out of the game, the big guys will get more business and profit. This will lead to more violence, which the police and government will use as justification for even more draconian laws, more cops with bigger budgets and more powers, and further suppression of our civil rights and liberties. The whole thing is a scam designed to make it necessary to hire more cops, build more jails and spend more taxpayers' dollars on a policy that further subsidizes organized crime. The media-addled public is being duped once again. Is this the Canada you want to live in? A country where cops and government help gangsters and deprive people of valuable medicine? Because that is the Canada you live in now. Russell Barth, Federally licensed medical marijuana user, Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis (PAIDOC)