cannabisnews.com: MPs Have Pot Legalization All Wrong!





MPs Have Pot Legalization All Wrong!
Posted by FoM on June 05, 1999 at 22:45:34 PT
Source: Calgary Herald
Re "Legalizing pot sends wrong message, say Calgary MPs," Calgary Herald, May 30. You quoted MP Art Hanger as saying, "By legalizing weed, 'we're sending a message to young people that it is no worse than smoking.

It is certainly worse than smoking.' " I hope the media won't let Hanger get away with such a statement without providing supporting evidence. By allowing tobacco to be legal the message is: "Tobacco is less harmful than marijuana." That is clearly a falsehood. Nearly half a million United States citizens die every year from tobacco-related diseases while there hasn't been one such death from marijuana in the last year or the year before. Gerald M. Sutliff Emeryville, Calif. The comments made by some of the MPs shows the depth of ignorance politicians have in the cannabis debate. Some politicians in Canada, much like American politicians, relay concerns about a child's perception of cannabis and that "wide availability" will result from legalizing cannabis. The fallacy with this argument is that adolescents don't listen well to politicians or police for information on dangers of drugs; exaggerating the dangers of cannabis will not solve anything. Cannabis is already widely available, and it's difficult to believe it would become more so if it were legalized. In fact, the "criminal baggage" carried with this illegal weed would be largely shed if it were regulated, much like cigarettes and alcohol. Calgary Centre MP Eric Lowther's contention that medications exist that "do everything and more" than cannabis attempts to discredit every sick person forced to turn to the streets to find the substance that eases their problems, when other legal measures fail. Certainly, he is the epitome of all the ignorance surrounding cannabis. Daniel Tourigny Victoria, B.C.
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Comment #1 posted by Ima B. Tokin on June 06, 1999 at 15:45:02 PT:
These people don't even look at the facts....
I think what pisses me off the most about this whole issue, legalization of marijuana and whatnot, is that the people trying to get rid of it are people who judge, people who obviously don't use themselves, people who want to keep rights from American citizens, people who just plain don't know the facts.   Simply put, MARIJUANA SMOKING IS, AS A MATTER OF FACT, SAFER AND LESS HARMFUL THAN SMOKING TOBACCO. Marijuana is NOT physically addictive, while the nicatine is. The affects on the lungs are also another valid point. Cigarette smoke, once it enters the lungs, causes them to compact, while marijuana smoke is a proven bronchial dialator.   So the bottom line is that all this bullshit about bud is worse than cigarettes makes me sick. Bud's better for you than alcohol too, but that's a whole other paragraph.
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