Pubdate: Sun, 14 Mar 2004
Source: Interlake Spectator, The (CN MB)
Copyright: 2004 The Interlake Spectator
Contact:  http://www.interlakespectator.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2164
Author: Chris Buors
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjparty.htm (Canadian Marijuana Party)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

MARIJUANIAC WANTS DRUG LEGALIZED

Dear Editor:

Interlake Spectator - The political policy of drug prohibition is what the
readers of the Interlake Spectator ought to concern themselves with because
prohibition is the reason drugs are openly being sold in schools. Youths
report that it is easier to get illegal drugs than tobacco or alcohol. Black
marketeers do not ask for identification.

The Nolin Senate Report recommended 14 as the age of consent for cannabis
use. The Second Chamber of sober thought spent two years and $2.5 million to
bring Canadians the unvarnished truth that 14-year-olds, from one end of the
nation to the other, no matter how isolated, are exposed to the black market
drugs through their peers.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE has failed to achieve their stated
goal of reducing use. In my opinion 'drug educating' the children itself is
responsible for the fact that more youths than ever are trying cannabis at a
younger and younger age. The parable of The Fall is 2000 years old and the
forbidden fruit has yet to lose its lustre, it seems.

Having uniformed police officers instructing school children has always
rubbed me the wrong way. The police subtly exert influence and they do not
impart truthful information about drugs.

The police, in fact, are indoctrinating children into the justifications for
the drug war. Nazi propaganda Minister Joseph Gobbells discovered that any
idea the police pass off will seem meritorious to impressionable young
minds. Parents do the groundwork by teaching youngsters to trust the police.
It disgusts me that the state abuses parental trust to forward vested
interests of pharmaceutical companies and misguided moralists.

A pharmacologist is the proper person to instruct Canadians of any age about
the true dangers of drugs. Political dangers exist so that politicians may
assume the role of St. George to protect us from whatever dragons. It seems
St. George can do no wrong and his assertions will never be challenged when
there are dragons to slay.

Not everybody agrees with the present drug control laws. Patents,
prescription rights and prohibition are state controls enshrined worldwide
under the United Nations 1961 Convention on Drugs.

The consequence of those controls are more expense drugs and less choice for
consumers, not to mention less liberty for all. Drug taking responsibility
is thus restored back to individuals. It is worth mentioning that our
seniors are by far the biggest market of drug users. Libertarian Milton
Friedman has made the case for a free market in drugs to reduce those costs
dramatically.

Canadians ought to take Mr. Friedman's advice and restore our natural right
to drugs -- all of them.

The Bible, in Genesis 1:29 bestows the plants of planet Earth, not to the
state, and not to the doctors, but to the individual. Drug prohibition is
immoral because it cannot stand up to the Cardinal Virtues test of St Thomas
Aquinas. Temperance and prohibition are irreconcilable for starters.
Prudence, justice and fortitude are nowhere to be found in a prohibitive
political policy.

There is an upcoming federal election. The Marijuana Party of Canada will be
running with the Senate Report as the base of our platform.

I urge all concerned to speak with party representatives about cannabis and
all other drug issues when they solicit your vote. More of the same 40 after
years of failed prohibition is simply no longer acceptable.

Chris Buors Prairie Region Organizer Marijuana Party of Manitoba
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MAP posted-by: Josh