Pubdate: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2009Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc. Contact: http://www.thenownews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1340 Author: E.W. Bopp Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n423/a03.html LEGALIZATION WOULD PROVIDE A REAL 'STIMULUS' PACKAGE Re: "Legalizing pot would put gangs out of business," letter, Friday, April 10. Hurrah for letter writer Dot Davies-Fuhrman, who has found the "truth" that so long has escaped us all. Legalize marijuana and other drugs and, presto, gangs and gang violence would disappear virtually overnight -- and save us billions in the bargain. But that's not all. In her enthusiasm, Ms. Davies-Fuhrman missed the collateral benefit of having solved B.C.'s problem of declining tourism from south of the border and elsewhere. Just think of the tourism potential of a mass influx of drug-deprived folks descending on the True North, Free and Legally Drugged, pouring untold additional billions of much-needed tourist dollars into our ailing economy -- with many of them undoubtedly wishing to stay permanently. Indeed, that's the kind of "stimulus" (pun intended) that would really help us all get through the economic recession with a "buzz." And while we're at it, with Canada's all-purpose Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the "rescue," the folks so intent on legalizing drugs miss no opportunity to point out that certain charter liberties, such as doing drugs, somehow are crucial in protecting us from the authoritative tendencies of the state and thusly prevent us from being plunged into the grasp of a police state. Wow! E.W. Bopp, Tsawwassen - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom