Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC) Copyright: 2010 Nanaimo Daily News Contact: http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608 Author: Glenda Allard Barr Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n009/a01.html DECRIMINALIZATION WOULD SOLVE MANY PROBLEMS Re: 'Pot growers, sellers are breaking the law' (Daily News, Jan. 2) If Susan Schleppe would visit the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition website (http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php) she would see information regarding the great cost of maintaining prohibition. Drug use does not cause crime, prohibition does. Prohibition empowers criminals and results in violence that puts our way of life at risk. Jailing citizens for possession or trafficking in drugs exacerbates the problem as we send them to a training ground for criminals. Great costs are incurred in maintaining the prison system and losing the productivity of those we criminalize. Marijuana is an ancient medicinal plant (not a drug manufactured in a lab) that has been used for thousands of years. It is widely used in this country for medicinal purposes, allowing persons with various ailments to live the best life they can. Health Canada's licensing of medical marijuana is difficult for many to obtain. Only a few ailments are recognized for approval by a GP, and it becomes more difficult to qualify when a specialist is needed. Many of our citizens don't have a doctor and others do not have the established relationship with their doctor that is required to apply for the program. The legalization of marijuana would remove this profitable business from the hands of organized crime. Our society would no longer have to pay the costs of enforcement, and instead, could profit from taxation from regulated sales. We would no longer criminalize citizens for medical or recreational use of this plant. To brand someone as a criminal increases the likelihood that they will commit other crimes. Glenda Allard Barr Lantzville - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D