Pubdate: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2010 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://torontosun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Alison Myrden Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n764/a06.html Note: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor. YEP. LEGALIZE IT Re "Pot biz no gamble" (Sept. 19): Kudos to the Toronto Sun. I couldn't agree more with Alan Shanoff on whether our Canadian government should legalize and regulate cannabis, the same way it has online gambling. As a retired Law Enforcement Officer and Speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, I have been trying to convince law makers around the world of the necessity to legalize and regulate all drugs for almost two decades. I received my first "prescription" for medical cannabis in 1994 for the indication of chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and a violent pain in my face and head 24 hours a day associated with MS, called tic douloureux - "the worst pain known to medicine." My life has changed dramatically for the better in the last two decades, all thanks to limiting and reducing my prescription medication and consuming large amounts of cannabis in various forms from food to drink to smoking - all day every day. A lot of people across Canada suffering from everything from epileptic seizures, to chronic pain, to mood disorders are tired of being sent to the street to "fill their prescription" for medical cannabis by our federal government. Something has to change. Most of these people have no Compassion Clubs close to them and, like me, find the single strain of cannabis the government offers is too low quality to be able to sustain and maintain relief for our terrible health conditions. Canadians must look seriously into this issue as so many of our loved ones will continue to suffer without proper, legally controlled access to this incredibly versatile plant. Legalize and regulate all drugs today. The harder the drug - the more it needs to be off the streets and away from our children. Alison Myrden Federal Medical Marijuana Exemptee in Canada The Medical Marijuana Mission (Good argument) - --- MAP posted-by: Matt