Re: 'Harm reduction not the solution to addictions' (Daily News, Feb. 7) In response to Sharon McKay's letter regarding harm reduction initiatives by VIHA, she states: "Addictions are not solved by supplying the means or the product." Why is it that everyone who is against harm reduction believes that harm reduction is a method to "cure" addiction? Harm reduction means just that-harm reduction. By providing the tools to people with addiction problems, VIHA is helping to reduce the spread of diseases associated with street level addiction. [continues 54 words]
Editor: In the article regarding the medical marijuana theft, Cpl. Tammy Hollingsworth states: "In police experience, medicinal marijuana grow ops have the same ramifications to public safety as illegal grow ops do. These grow ops have been, and continue to be, targets of attacks, often involving violence." She is not wrong, but this violence is completely unnecessary. When was the last time armed thugs broke into somebody's garage to steal homemade beer or wine? It just doesn't happen, as anybody can just head to the store to buy their own, and the legal market has taken away all incentive for criminals to profit. The only way to end the violence is to end marijuana prohibition. It should be up to adults to make the decision to use it or not-the same way one gets to choose to drink or not. Andrew Brown Nanaimo [end]
Re: 'Gangs want a piece of our drug market' (Daily News, July 14) My response to this article is, obviously. And things are going to get a whole lot worse when the Tories force through their "tough on crime" legislation this fall. The stakes will be higher to be in the business, so prices will soar and make it far more profitable for these gangs that are now here. Prepare for violence and turf wars while gangs try to increase their share of the market place, with many innocent victims losing their lives along the way-- and we will have the Conservative party to thank for this. [continues 78 words]
Re: Conservatives to bar medical marijuana users from growing their own pot, June 17 The government wants to discontinue personal production licences for medical marijuana patients. Has everybody gone insane? More regulation is not the answer. More corporate entities controlling the health needs of the public is not the answer. The problem is that a medicinally beneficial plant that grows like a weed has been outlawed to the point that people will grow it in their homes under energy-inefficient lights. Re-legalize cannabis so everybody can grow it outside, thus solving issues of fire safety, and the threat of "growrips." Andrew Brown Nanaimo [end]
Re: RCMP turn attention on cleaning up Cumberland. You know, I'm getting really tired of the RCMP (and our government) creating a market for organized crime. Pot should not be illegal, nor should any other plant. By keeping it illegal the law is simply adding value to the product because of the risk to grow it, and the folks willing to take that risk are often willing to protect their crop by all means necessary. The NICC protect people with medical need from these often violent people. They deserve a key to the city. [continues 133 words]
Re: Just say no to the evil of harm reduction. What would you rather have, a person addicted to drugs, or a person addicted to drugs spreading HIV or Hep C through dirty needles? Harm reduction is an essential first step to encouraging addicts to recover. Show them some respect. Show them that society cares enough to help them limit their risk of preventable diseases. Andrew Brown [end]
In your recent article "'Budbusters' move in on pot plantations" you describe a huge effort by police and military to eradicate some pot plants. What was not mentioned in the article is how much this effort will cost-my guess is a lot. Will this effort make a difference on the availability of pot? No, but it will help to wipe out some competition for some gangsters. The only thing they are accomplishing is maintaining the high value of the plant. It's absolute insanity that the general public allows this to happen. Our money is being wasted, and we are creating a lucrative market that often breeds violence. Take the value, and violence, away through legalization-it worked with alcohol. Andrew Brown Nanaimo [end]
In the recent article about a home invasion and "grow rip" of a medical marijuana patient, police officer Dunlop says: "A key message here may be that if you have a medicinal marijuana license you may want to keep that information to yourself. Information travels fast." Yet, police, fire chiefs, and municipalities want Health Canada to disclose all legal grows to them. Maybe those who want disclosure can see that this violent attack is the main reason not to disclose these locations. The only way to end this violence and pure insanity is to legalize marijuana. Stop putting vulnerable members of our society at risk because they chose a more effective medicine that doesn't come from the poison peddling pharmaceutical industry. Andrew Brown [end]
Dear editor, This letter is about a story in the Gazette on June 24, Absolute discharge for medical marijuana user. This demonstrates the problem with the system - the judges don't even get it. A letter is not what it takes for legal cannabis. The letter can get patients cannabis through compassion clubs, which are essentially operating illegally, but very much needed. However, they will do nothing when the police are kicking down your door. To get legal, one must go through an application process and wait months (sometimes in excess of six) for Health Canada to send you your official documents. [continues 156 words]
Would you like to know how to end all of the problems associated with indoor marijuana grow operations, both legal and illegal? End pot prohibition. Most folks would grow their cannabis outdoors during the summer months because it would cost next to nothing - no lights, fans, etc. There would be no risk of electrical fires, and no mold issues. This should please the fire chiefs. And because anyone can grow it, you would put the lucrative drug trade out of business. Less violence with competing organized crime groups will mean that our streets would be safer. This should please the police. [continues 56 words]
To the Editor, Re: Port Alberni pot prince protests in local MP's office, www.albernivalleynews.com, May 18. In response to (Nanaimo-Alberni MP James) Lunney stating that "Emery repeatedly broke U.S. law when he sold marijuana seeds to customers there and there was a consequence to that," and comparing that to citizens not agreeing with posted speed limits and speeding anyway, is absurd. It was Americans buying the seeds from Emery that broke American law; Emery never set foot in the country. [continues 171 words]
I can't help but think that we are heading down a dangerous road. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is spitting in the face of democracy, and seemingly flipping the bird to the Canadian public. He has, again, prorogued the government. What does this mean? All of the work that has been done over the past year has been pretty much tossed out the window-and don't forget that all the money spent on salaries drafting legislation, sitting in the House, and debating bills, is at the expense of taxpayers. [continues 561 words]
What would you do if I sang out of tune; would you stand up and walk out on me? Well, Mr. Harper, if I was there, I damn well would have, and I also might have thrown a shoe at you too. As almost everyone knows, and probably has seen on YouTube, Prime Minister Stephen Harper sang the Beatles' tune "With a Little Help From my Friends" at a gala event in Ontario. (Check it out on YouTube if you haven't seen it yet.) I know that this issue has been talked about a lot, but damn it, I want to point out the hypocrisy too. [continues 537 words]
In the past few weeks there has been a lot of discussion over the legalization of cannabis. The one thing that keeps popping up is that cannabis leads to harder drugs. This is incorrect, as it is prohibition that leads to harder drugs. Let me explain: drug dealers usually deal in all drugs, not just cannabis. If cannabis were legal, there would be designated merchants - or one could grow their own, thus eliminating the need of visiting the local drug dealer who is always trying to "upsell" other products that are more expensive, more harmful and more addicting (note that cannabis is also not addicting). People need to think hard and stop listening to the "lies" surrounding prohibition. Prohibition is a major cash grab for both the criminals and law enforcement. See the connection? The only loser in this game is the general public. Andrew Brown, Nanaimo (formerly of Abbotsford) [end]
It is difficult for me to believe that our government is attempting to introduce mandatory sentencing for harmless drug related offenses in Canada. This is an uninformed and backward proposal. The use of marijuana is no more dangerous than the use of alcohol, and the proposed punitive measures will do nothing to stop drug related crime. In the first place, the use of drugs is a public health issue, not a criminal issue. Most countries are coming to see the wisdom of this approach, but apparently this doesn't include our backward Conservative government. [continues 106 words]
Re: 'Marijuana for medical use has got bad rap' (Your Letters, Daily News, June 19). I would publicly like to commend the writer. I fully support the complete legalization of marijuana for industrial, medical and recreational purposes. Unfortunately, many people are still uneducated about the benefits of this amazing plant, and people like the writer are stigmatized by their community, when in reality she should be held in high regard as an example of an individual able to meet their own medical needs, without any cost to the medicare system. [continues 79 words]
Editor, The News: In response to the letter to the editor headlined "Marijuana as medicine a myth," I feel that the author has failed to recognize the overwhelming studies that have been published lately, that prove the exact opposite of what he is claiming. Because of prohibition of this useful plant, unbiased studies were very hard to come by, until lately. To better understand the studies that were referred to in the anti-pot letter, we need to look at the motivation for "conducting" that study. They are often funded by drug companies, or the American government - definitely two groups that have our best interests in mind (sarcasm, in case you didn't realize). [continues 97 words]
Editor: Re: the letter from Dave Page (The Times, March 14). I grew up in Langley, and have since moved to the Island. I think that was a good decision, to get away from the extreme ignorance of people like Mr. Page. I don't know where to start in showing with what is wrong with his letter. First off, I'd like to state that "marijuana" is an outdated term that was brought in by the prohibitionists in the 1930s, to make cannabis (the actual term) sound foreign and more "Mexican," to try to discourage Americans from using the herb. [continues 169 words]
No industry exists in which the laws of the free market operate so freely and so purely according to the conditions that Adam Smith described in his Wealth of Nations, than the trade in illegal drugs - "Consumption is the sole end and purpose of production; and the sole interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer." Yet seeking to control the market at the producer end - which is to say, banging up the dealers - has nevertheless been the consensus among policy-makers in recent years. The Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes summed up the view of many when he spoke of "catching more big-time drug dealers and middlemen", as if no one had thought of this before. [continues 928 words]
