Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2017 Source: Richmond News (CN BC) Copyright: 2017, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc. Contact: http://www.richmond-news.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244 Author: George Pope RICHMOND CAN GROW ITS OWN MARIJUANA Dear Editor, Re: "School trustee needs history lesson," Letters, Nov. 17. I'd like to thank Brad Kilburn for bringing up that key fact from anti-cannabis history. The USA criminalized marijuana originally to keep the prohibition bureaucracy and police budgets going. Canada, however, did it mainly as an attack on the Chinese in our West Coast port city of Vancouver. Legalization, with basic regulation, including age limits and laws against black market production and sales, is coming. That's a given. So, let's plan for it and plan to have maximum reduction of the negatives while reaping the maximum benefits for Richmond. The ALR is unfarmed because, the farmer's say, it's too small to be profitable. What if Richmond became the centre for the legal growth and production of B.C. bud, for whatever legal markets Ottawa approves? Look for negatives and you shall find negatives. Let's look for positives. George Pope Richmond - --- MAP posted-by: Matt