Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Patrick Salmers

FOLLOW U.S. LEAD ON POT LAWS

I don't even smoke marijuana, but when I read that parts of the U.S.
were making marijuana legal for recreational use, I felt embarrassed -
that these places, in the country we so often speak of as backwards on
issues like health care, were making the move to legalization while we
were not.

Other than the risk of illness from smoke inhalation, which is also
present in legal cigarettes, there is no more harm from marijuana use
than alcohol use. On top of this the prohibition only creates harm. It
creates a smuggling market that profits organized crime, makes a
useful medication for pain and illness more inaccessible and taboo,
and targets the at-risk youth who are so likely to partake in the drug.

It creates a smuggling market that profits organized crime, makes a
useful medication for pain and illness more inaccessible and taboo,
and targets the at-risk youth who are so likely to partake in the drug.

These harms are not debatable; they are real, and it is embarrassing
that my country does not take them seriously.

Patrick Salmers, Guelph
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