The RCMP has overstepped its bounds by conducting this savage raid on Pete Roglich's home (Medical Marijuana: Couple in Dark After Pot Bust, Dec 28, 2006) The RCMP have also created a fire hazard by disconnecting Pete Roglich's electricity. Pete must now find another means to stay warm in the winter. This could very well mean building a fire in his living room Chris Hagglund Burlington, ON [end]
Hiya... I just wanted to attest to the truth in Robert Sharpe's letter in the Feb. 11 Times Review. He said that consumers will come into contact with harder drugs because the marijuana business is controlled by criminals... and it's so true. Last time I went to my guy to get some pot, he offered me blow. And that's not what I want. No wonder we have so many addicts when you go looking for weed and all you can find is coke. Chris Hagglund Burlington, Ont. [end]
Re: Drug busts send the right message (editorial, Feb. 10). We all know there is big money to be had in the illegal drugs business. The only message I get from from the busts is "don't get caught." Drugs aren't a source of crime, drug prohibition is. Chris Hagglund - Burlington [end]
Thank you for your excellent column on the ill effects of keeping marijuana illegal (Jan. 14). In your article you call for a massive public protest of current marijuana policy. I would like to inform you that is exactly what marijuana activists around the country are planning. We intend to literally fill Parliament Hill with protesters on June 5. The marijuana prohibition is cutting at the very foundation of our society - law and order are going to the dogs so that a some people can continue to profit from pot prohibition, and we demand that the federal government take action. [continues 79 words]
Dear Editor, Seriously, what did you expect when you pushed for laws to ban a plant that two million Canadians love to smoke? That the business would disappear? And stop selling pot to consumers who want it? Get real. It's a $7 billion business annually and its prohibition that gives control of the business to organized criminals that like to grow it in cheap rental houses (well, cheaper than commercial space, that is for sure). If pot were legal we could actually make laws that require growers to do it outdoors or in properly configured indoor spaces. If pot were legal we could put age and quality controls in place so that the kids have a harder time getting it and so that if and when they do get some at least it won't be poisoned. But we're such cowards. We'd rather pretend pot didn't exist. You can be sure my kids are getting a real education about marijuana but sadly it won't come from your newspaper. Chris Hagglund, technology director, Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis, Burlington [end]
Obviously, J. Reynolds doesn't like marijuana ("Kudos to cops for drug war," Nov. 23). Well, Mr. Reynolds, there are two million Canadians that do, and we're not going to stop buying it. Either we get legal marijuana so we can regulate the business and make sure that pot has age and quality controls placed on it, or we can keep the business prohibited and squarely in the hands of organized criminals. If we had kept alcohol prohibited, we'd have kids going blind every day from tainted alcohol. [continues 133 words]
Re: Pot kids growing concern for cops, Nov. 13. If police and government don't want kids living in grow homes, give the growers a legal place to grow. Pot smokers are going to buy our herb regardless of the law. Why not give us a legal source? And we could make it so legal suppliers can only sell to adults. Incredible; I know the neighborhood dealers sure don't ask for identification. Chris Hagglund Burlington [end]
RE "LETTER to the Editor," by Jay Hunter (Nov. 5): No, editor, Hunter's argument is not an oversimplification, as your snide parenthetical one-liner has it. It simply cuts right to the heart of the issue. The two million Canadian pot smokers are buying their pot from black market sources, and the only way to make us stop is to legalize marijuana. That's right, legalize and regulate, and probably even tax the stuff too, so that we wont be supporting organized criminals anymore, and so that little Johnny will at least have to present some ID along with that wad of cash before he can buy his reefers. [continues 71 words]
Keeping pot prohibited enriches organized criminals and promotes the kind of dispute-settlement style that leaves people dead. If you want to see the end of the violence, then support the end of the marijuana prohibition. Do you think pot consumers like supporting organized crime, or do you think we'd be happier not having to deal with the kind of black-market thugs that prohibition has brought us? Chris Hagglund, Burlington, Ont. [end]
Dear Editor - I read your article, "Stop the pot grow operators" (The Guelph Mercury, Sept. 16) about the indoor grow operations . It is childish to think that adding money to law enforcement budgets will do anything to reduce the number of indoor marijuana grows in the city. The reason for this is that prohibition increases risk in the trade (and subsequently the value of the plant) so much that it will always be profitable to grow it concealed within homes. The correct way to deal with the problem is to end the prohibition thus allowing legitimate business to take over the trade and grow the marijuana on outdoor plantations. [continues 80 words]
The Editor, From reading your July 16 article "Got Pot? Then you may have cleaning bills too" (page 6, The Tri-City News), it sounds like the city of Port Coquitlam is not embracing the phenomenon of residential marijuana grow operations. The one question I have for PoCo council is: If you don't want people to grow marijuana in residences, where do you want them to grow it? If you won't allow the regulated production of marijuana either outdoors or in properly equipped commercial spaces, then you will keep finding it in homes. When there are people like me who want to buy marijuana, supply must always meet demand. Chris Hagglund Burlington, ON [end]
Re: Ottawa playing catchup (editorial, June 10, Sentinel-Review). Is your head buried in the the sand? You printed "By the book, it is still illegal to possess marijuana,'' which is wrong. Very wrong. Read the Rogin ruling. It's totally legal to possess cannabis in Ontario right now. So when the hell is it going to be regulated and sold in the newly needed pot/ganja aisle of the LCBO? In little labelled baggies, 10 per cent THC by volume? That's what I want to know. Then I won't have to worry about buying it from some scumbag who could be also selling it, along with God knows what else, to our kids. Chris Hagglund Burlington, ON [end]
Dear Editor: I would like to comment on your June 4 story, "Top Cop Blows off Lax Pot Laws", where Peel Regional Police Chief Noel Catney is quoted opposing the marijuana decriminalization legislation. Everyone should be opposed to this change in the law because it does not address the underlying issues surrounding the drawbacks of marijuana prohibition. Right now we've got dealers selling pot and God knows what else to our kids, and crime groups producing the marijuana with stolen hydro in our neighbourhoods. This situation has got to stop, and the only effective way of doing so is by regulating the marijuana business. [continues 108 words]
IT WAS interesting to see that as many as 35% of Canadians still believe in the so-called "gateway" theory that smoking marijuana will lead to the use of harder drugs ("Poll cases the joint," April 27). The gateway theory states that those who use hard drugs used marijuana first, and that therefore there is a connection between using marijuana and moving on to hard drugs. It does not mean, however, that most marijuana users will go on to use harder drugs. On the contrary, most marijuana users do not go on to use hard drugs. The connection between marijuana and hard drugs lies only in the fact that people have to buy them both from the same guy. Chris Hagglund (See next letter) [end]
I am sickened by the failure of the RCMP in Red Deer to enforce the laws as they are written (250 toke up for 4:20, April 21 Herald-Tribune). They stood by and witnessed 250 people commit a criminal act at Red Deer City Hall park, without arresting any of those involved. I charge the RCMP with failing to uphold their duty. Every one of those officers who saw a person smoking the banned marijuana should be reprimanded for failing in their duties. If the Mounties don't want to enforce the law then they should be pushing for it to be changed, not standing idly by while it is violated. Chris Hagglund Toronto [end]
Dear sir: Please excuse me for the inane question regarding the article that appeared in the March 10 issue of the Daily Bulletin, "Police warn drugs may be tainted," but it needs to be asked: If these drugs pose a health problem, then why do we continue to delegate the regulation of them to criminals? Criminals don't ask for ID and they don't provide quality control. Whose kids are going to have to die from poisoned marijuana before the government steps up to the plate and begins regulating the marijuana business? Regards, Chris Hagglund Oakville, Ont. [end]
You commented at the end of Chris Buors' Feb. 15 letter that, "A driver high on pot is a driver likely to kill -- to believe otherwise is both foolish and dangerous." I interested to know, where does your research come from? Chris Buors' supporting research is credible and is among other studies which have shown that drivers under the influence of cannabis actually do drive better. They tend to be more cautious, slow down, leave more space and pay more attention to what is going on around them. I would personally attribute the better driving to the paranoia side effect of cannabis. [continues 88 words]
Reporter Kris Wise's April 4 article, "Officials laud drug use policy," closes by quoting Charleston Housing Authority Acting Director Mark Taylor: "I think our tenants support it because they are just as concerned with the safety of the housing. Especially in our family developments, tenants are trying to keep children away from these kinds of things and away from drugs." Any educated tenant would not support this ridiculous policy of no-fault eviction. The very children who are supposedly being protected by these policies are the victims in the end. [continues 96 words]
Dear Editor It was refreshing to see such responsible journalism in your March 19 editorial, "Marijuana Is Not A Joke". I agree that ending the cannabis black market should be more of a priority for our government, and I think it is important that this message be sent to policy makers. Kudos to you, and keep up the good work. Chris Hagglund, Toronto [end]
In your Nov. 14 editorial "Busted in the boy's room," you pose the question of whether the incident of prepackaged marijuana allegedly being sold at Greensburg Salem Senior High School is an isolated incident or part of a bigger problem. I can assure you that this problem is not isolated and will occur anywhere that there is a market for marijuana or other drugs. From the description given, the alleged dealer was not pushing his products on unsuspecting teens, but instead meeting their demands for the product by filling their "orders" that were placed in the morning. [continues 201 words]
