Pubdate: Thu, 19 Dec 2013
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2013 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Peter O'Neil

OTTAWA PROGRAM TO WARN YOUTH OF DANGERS OF POT

OTTAWA - The federal government has announced a $11.5 million, 
five-year program to discourage drug use among youth.

Wednesday's announcement by Health Minister Rona Ambrose from 
Vancouver Island comes as a Conservative party ad campaign alleges 
that Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, who was in Vancouver on 
Wednesday, is effectively encouraging Canada's youth to smoke pot. 
The Liberals have shot back with their own ads, attacking the Tories' 
drug policy as "failed," according to one report.

The Health Canada money will be used, in part, to educate "parents 
and prevention ... on the impact of youth marijuana use on the 
developing brain," according to a government release.

In October, Ambrose announced she was closing "loopholes" in a drug 
access program that permitted doctors to provide heroin to addicts 
who had exited a B.C. medication research program. The announcement 
was followed by a Conservative fundraising letter, stressing that the 
Harper government was taking a hard line against drugs.

The Conservative party also launched an ad campaign in October 
focusing on the Liberal policy to legalize marijuana and regulate the trade.

"Justin Trudeau has a famous last name, but he lacks the judgment to 
be prime minister," the Conservatives said in October. "His only 
policy priority so far is to promote the legalization of marijuana. 
He wants to make it available for sale, like alcohol and tobacco. But 
that would dramatically increase its availability to minors and send 
the message that recreational drug use is acceptable." The campaign 
ran in Punjabi and English and was targeted particularly at immigrant 
communities, Maclean's columnist Paul Wells wrote Wednesday. In 
another report, Wells published the transcript of a Liberal ad now 
being played on radio stations in Cantonese, Mandarin and Punjabi: 
"In the past seven years of Stephen Harper and his Conservative 
government, our community has been flooded with marijuana.

Justin Trudeau wants to tightly regulate marijuana, to keep it out of 
the hands of our kids and striking back at the criminals and gangs 
who distribute it. Stephen Harper's approach has failed. We need a 
leader who is willing to tackle problems with solutions that actually 
work. Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are looking out for 
themselves. Justin Trudeau is looking out for us. He'll be a prime 
minister with real priorities."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom