Pubdate: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 Source: Northumberland Today (CN ON) Copyright: 2009 Sun Media Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/TsYrjmMc Website: http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5003 Author: Russell Barth DOPE ERADICATION PROGRAM SUBSIDIZES CRIMINALS Re: $400,000 marijuana harvest east of Cobourg, Sept. 4, 2009 Guess who is most pleased about this eradication policy. The 90-95% of growers who will never be caught! This colossal waste of time and money is not only failing to fix things, it is in fact outrageously counterproductive. Think about it: if the police busted twice as many grows this year as last 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 actually subsidizing the entire industry by busting only a minority of them. The cops know it, too. They know they are subsidizing criminals because the evidence to support what I say is widely available. 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 plants going. They lobby constantly -- with our tax dollars, no less - -- and have way too much influence over our governments at all levels. They like to tell the public this is somehow interfering with organized crime or preventing pot from reaching your kids, but informed people know better. Every year the cops bust more and more people, and every year organized criminals grow stronger and pot becomes more widely available. All this over a medicinal plant that recent science suggests actually fights cancer!: www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20071226/pot-slows-cancer-in-test-tube http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july132009/cbd_2_sc_7-13-09.php 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 right now. Russell Barth Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis, Nepean - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart