# Drugs: Marijuana Not Going Away



## LdyLunatic (Aug 2, 2006)

British Columbia
01 Aug 2006
by Russel Barth

  Dear Editor, 
Helen Featherston [Grieving mom seeks change, July 28, Langley Advance] needs to understand something: marijuana, the most medically beneficial plant known to man, is here to stay.  It was here long before humans, we have used it for more than 5,000 years, and it will be here long after we are all gone.  
Education is the key.  Eighty-three years ago, marijuana was made illegal, based on racist lies and junk science, and the new driving laws will be implemented the same way, no doubt.  There are no official numbers to support the claim of increased danger, so good luck getting those laws past The Charter.  
Adults - especially police - have lost a lot of credibility when it comes to drugs, because they lie and exaggerate the so-called "dangers'of marijuana.  They tell kids that marijuana is ten times more potent than before, and will cause cancer, schizophrenia, impotence, permanent stupidity, and an addiction to hard drugs.  
When kids discover the truth on their own ( which is just a Google search away ), they will realize that they have been systematically lied to by people they once trusted.  They will likely conclude that, if adults lied about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and marijuana, they must be lying about meth, crack, heroin, ecstasy, booze, weapons, extreme sports, safe-sex, and safe-driving, too.  And who can blame them? 
We live in a hypocritical "drug culture" that advertises booze, fast cars, fast food, violent movies and video games, and drugs of all kinds - right on TV.  Then we tell kids, "Say no to drugs." 
We give kids Ritalin ( cocaine with a PG rating ), instead of just reducing their sugar and Game-Boy intake, and then tell them, "Marijuana is dangerous!" 
They see right though this hypocrisy.  A ruse by any other name_ 
Also, there is already a roadside test, involving measurement of reflexes, much like a hand-held video game, and it has been used in Australia.  
Next, the only official studies conducted on cannabis and driving took place in Europe, and they showed conclusively that cannabis users drive more slowly and more cautiously than non-users.  There has never been a study on cannabis and driving in North America, so police are pulling numbers right out of the air.  
Cannabis can impair some people, but it doesn't impair everyone, or every time.  People can be impaired by a coffee or cigarette or cell phone in hand, rowdy pets and passengers, booming stereos, over-the-counter medications, prescription medications, blood-sugar imbalances, fatigue, inexperience, bad driving habits, old-age, and just plain old stupidity.  To focus on any one thing is arbitrary and discriminatory, and that is exactly what these new laws would be doing.  
It won't matter if the driver is tripling his or her dose of a prescription medication, but if marijuana shows up in your blood, you are considered guilty until proven innocent.  So much for Canada being a "just society." 
RUSSELL BARTH 
Ottawa


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