Pubdate: Thu, 30 Nov 2017 Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON) Copyright: 2017 St. Catharines Standard Contact: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/letters Website: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/676 Author: Rita Dillon Page: A4 CANADIANS GOING TO POT In wiser times, cigarettes were considered poison: protect the kids, reduce health-care expense, ban that toxin almost everywhere. As a result, we all breathe easier. Now it's 2017 - set up shops and fill them with pretty coloured weed balls, like lollipops. Who cares how many more toxins are in those? Huge numbers of young people in their 20s are still in school and still dependent on their parents. Is the medical community thrilled to welcome a new mind-altering drug we can all enjoy? Is there enough paper to list all the side-effects? What about colleges and universities? All those 17- and 18-year-olds, away from home for the first time, alcohol in front of them everywhere, but no pressure eh? Just get some lollipops on the weekend to unwind. Law enforcement. Why didn't somebody think to ask them for an opinion? Are they fine picking up the pieces of the little family after a stoner drifted into the passing lane? Check in with family services. They're the ones who are called to get the crying baby when the parents are blissed out. Are they excited about adding a new government-approved way to mess up the kids? Employers are asking if they will need urinals and a lab at every workplace. There's an opioid crisis in this country, an epidemic even. No irony there. Medical marijuana for serious conditions of course. Decriminalization for small amounts acceptable. Making it legal means it's OK to use. And the most likely to screw up their lives will be our teenagers. Premiers and MPs should be ashamed. You spend our money to tell our kids to eat healthy and exercise. And now you offer them marijuana brownies. This is not the Canadian way. We deserve better. Rita Dillon St. Catharines - --- MAP posted-by: Matt