Pubdate: Tue, 07 Dec 2010 Source: Smithers Interior News (CN BC) Copyright: 2010, BC Newspaper Group Contact: http://www.interior-news.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1631 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n970/a04.html Author: Stan White A TOP ISSUE OF OUR TIME Editor : David W. Dickinson got a bulls-eye (Letter: Reason The Gangs Are Growing, Nov. 24, 2010), cannabis (marijuana) prohibition increases hard drug addiction rates. How many people try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful as taught in D.A.R.E.-type programs and think other substances must not be so bad either only to become addicted to hard drugs? How many people have become addicted to hard drugs simply because the same dealer who sells the God-given plant cannabis may also sell hard drugs? It's clearly time to end cannabis prohibition. Even Canada's 2002 Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs unanimously recommended to regulate cannabis the same way as alcohol and the Le Dain Commission's report did the same. Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time. Stan White Dillon, Colorado - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake