Pubdate: Fri, 14 Aug 2009
Source: Daily Herald-Tribune, The (CN AB)
Page: 6
Copyright: 2009 Osprey Media
Contact: http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
Website: http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/804
Author: Russell Barth

CHALLENGE DRUG FIGURES

RE: Drug bust: One man arrested, 137 marijuana plants
seized

"The seized plants, if harvested, would have yielded about 15,000
grams or 60,000 joints - enough to last one chronic user about 41
years." It is disgusting and shameful that the police continue to
mislead and frighten the public with this balderdash, but even more
chilling is the media's willingness to regurgitate this tripe back to
the public as if we were all their baby birds. Stop insulting the
intelligence of your readers with this piffle. Ask the cops more
pointed questions. Go back to journalism school if you have to.

The people happiest about this bust are the 90-95% of growers who will
never be caught.

Think about that: If the police busted twice as many grows every year,
they would still only get about 20% of them. A fifth. Probably less.

And every time they bust one grow - indoor, outdoor, small, or big -
all they do is make the ones they don't catch that much more valuable.
Not only is the illegality of pot the very thing that makes growing it
so lucrative, the police are subsidizing the entire industry by
busting a minority of them.

That's right; the police are subsidizing the gangsters, and they know
it. They know it because the math and history are widely available and
simple enough for even the dullest 10-year-old to understand, but not,
simple enough, apparently, for reporters and editors to understand.

And while kids and women are still missing, and child porn runs
rampant, the cops are wasting a lot of time and money on this
outrageously counterproductive policy. The whole thing makes me wonder
just which side of the law these guys are really on.

And don't tell me "the cops don't make the laws"! The police have been
lobbying government for decades to keep the War On Certain Drugs
going. They lobby constantly and have way too much influence over our
governments - at all levels.

They like to tell the public that this is somehow preventing pot from
reaching your kids, but every year they bust more and more people, and
every year pot becomes more widely available. Nice work, boys. Well
done.

All over a medicinal plant that recent science suggests actually helps
healthy cells resist cancer invasion: 
www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20071226/pot-slows-cancer-in-test-tube

Is this the Canada you want to live in? A country where cops help
gangsters and deprive people of valuable medicine? Because that is the
Canada you live in now.

Russell Barth

Nepean, Ont.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake