Harper's new drug policy emulates proven disaster

Thanks for the editorial, Danger lurks in Conservative drug strategy (SP, Oct. 3), but the blow has fallen just the same. The wilful ignorance of Stephen Harper's drug policy is dangerous indeed.

For example, Harper says: "If you sell drugs or produce drugs, you will go to prison." No, not really. I know this because his policy is copied from our good neighbours to the south, who now have more than two million people in prison while drug use grows.

The FBI reported 820,000 drug arrests in 2006 but still the U.S. is flooded with illegal drugs. The Office of National Drug Control Policy tracks the prices of heroin and cocaine -- prices that have consistently fallen as drug penalties and enforcement have increased.

Any economist will tell you that as supply increases beyond demand, prices fall. And why does supply increase? Because Americans really, really want drugs and will do anything to get them: harsh criminal penalties are no deterrent.

And where is drug use less prevalent? It's where drugs are legal. Yes, addiction, disease and overdose are less frequent where people are not "protected" by ridiculous laws. That's because social norms are far more effective than the government in controlling drug use.

What is worst about Harper's drug policy is that it sins against the fundamental principle of democracy. The genius of democracy is that when a man has the freedom to make his own choices, on average he'll live better and more happily, even though he has the freedom to make mistakes.

If you like paying taxes for no reason, if you like putting people in jail to make them worse, if you like increased fear, crime, disease, death and addiction, then Harper's your man. If you long for a safer, freer, happier world, however, the Conservative drug policy is a disaster.

Ken Sailor

Saskatoon

Good job on the letter, my friend. Except for that man-talk at the end. Male as standard, female as secondary is a good example of insidious sexism. It's lazy to write this way and just goes to show how underhanded sexism is, when a highly enlightened man who hates the drug war, falls into this trap.

Teachers more stoned than their students.

TEACHERS' DRUG TESTS WILL HELP STUDENTS

I don't see the reason for all the fuss about drug tests for teachers. Many educational departments across the country require this as a term of employment. If you got nothing to hide, then what's the big deal? Personally, I think all state employees should have to go through random drug tests as it makes the workplace safer. If I had kids in the Hawaii school system I'd be clamoring for this kind of action. I was rather surprised to find that teachers weren't required to do this. From what I've seen of the lackadaisical school system here maybe this is just what is needed.

Imagine how much more students could accomplish if their teachers weren't more stoned than the students.

James McWilliams

Waikele

Look at all that propaganda. Teachers more stoned than their students? Lackadaisical school system? That's a nice way to talk about the people that have taken on the often thankless of teaching your children. Maybe Mr. Williams should spend some time in a class full of children and watch what teachers do before he spews his worthless opinions in the local newspaper.

If the only way you can tell that a person is a drug user is by subjecting samples of their pee to analysis in a lab, there is no drug problem. The best way to evaluate teachers, or any professional, is by their job performance. Having clean urine (or being smart enough to purchase it) is no indication of competence. I have no idea why spending thousands of dollars on drug testing teachers is a better use of money than say, parenting classes, lunch programs, band programs or after school programs.

The viewpoint of your average drug prohibitionist

The letters to the editor section of the newspaper has always been my favorite reading material. You can get a good idea about how a large majority of the newspaper reading public feels about a particular issue. Or you can see the views of wackjobs amplified. This morning I bring you a letter to the editor from L. Rebeccah-Jean Robinson published in the Victoria News.

I have been seeing a lot on the news and in the papers over the rights of “pot smokers” these days.

Where are the rights of non-pot-smokers? I know folks personally and people I have just chatted with in the general public who’ve stated to me that pot smoke gave them head-aches, body pain and blocked sinuses when they did experiment with it or were just simply exposed to it.

I happen to be one of those people. I tried it in 2004 with a couple of friends as I heard all this new evidence that it takes body pain away. Well, it didn’t. As a matter of fact, it gave us severe head-aches.

We all have fibromyalgia, chronic pain and arthritis and it only worsened our conditions. Also, our minds felt like vegetables and we were immobile for many hours to come.

Did you try a bong or a vaporizer? That might help but even if pot is the worst thing in the world for you, there is a simple solution to this dilemma: Don't smoke pot.

I personally don't smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol or take prescription medications or ride motorcycles or star in porn films. In fact, I take great pains to avoid all of the above activities. But in no way does that mean that I wish to throw people in jail for doing things that I personally dislike.

Do you see how this works? The only thing that pot-smokers want is the freedom to grow, sell and distribute their medicine or their favorite recreational substance without being thrown in prison. It's just that simple.

There are many people now who possess exemptions to legally smoke pot and I’m sure there are those who don’t abuse that privilege, however, there are those who do. And those who live in complexes are affected by that pot smoke in hallways and courtyards must know it’s harmful to those like me.

I’m not a cigarette smoker, but I’ve also been hearing about how cigarette smoking is going to be illegal on ferry boats, parks (and patios for smoking that aren’t hurting the non-smokers.)

Well, there’s something pretty backwards in our society because cigarettes are not illegal. Also, they don’t cause car accidents due to being high. Yet, thousands sat on the lawn of the parliament buildings recently, lobbying for pot not to be illegal and got stoned on pot. No one was arrested.

Oh boy. They always have to focus on the stoners. I can assure you that a lot of us feel that the prohibition of drugs is a civil rights issue and non-pot-smokers also show up at the rallies to show their support for the end of the drug war. After all, they are tax-payers too and don't like seeing their money wasted on ineffective social policies. I don't think this letter writer has given much thought as to the consequences of jailing cigarette smokers.

This system is unfair. I smell pot smoke downtown all the time now and there are no cops around enforcing the law; they’re too busy confiscating knapsacks.

Anyway, all I am saying, is there are those to consider who feel completely the opposite about pot – it truly hurts us; it doesn’t help us; it hinders us; we’re allergic to it and even though we may not be smoking it, we still have to be affected by it in our homes and on city streets. This society has become so politically correct that government has taken leave of its senses.

What about the children of parents who have tickets to smoke pot. Is this not going to affect and harm those kids in the long run? Does it give them a choice, whether they want to be exposed to it or not?

She ends off by whining about all the pot-smokers that are staying out of jail despite their dirty, illegal habits. As for the parents of pot-smokers, I would think that smoking outside would be a good way to SAVE THE CHILDREN!!11 It works for me. The health and safety of my children is threatened more by the knives in my kitchen drawers. I wonder how much second-hand car exhaust the little darlings inhale on the walk home from school. My solution is to ban cars. You like driving cars? Well too bad, the children must be saved.

This is the mindset of a lot of people that oppose reforming our drug policy. How do we reach these people? How do we get them to see that this issue effects everybody? How do we get them to see that this has nothing to do with promoting drug use?

Awesome Letter to the Editor

I was rather discouraged after reading all the articles defending drug testing today, such as why would teachers object to drug testing? But then I read the following LTE which is short and sweet:

DRUG-TESTING SUGGESTION

With respect to drug testing in the workplace, I suggest that managers or supervisors who can't evaluate their staff's performance by observing them or examining their work are far more suitable candidates for drug testing than the employees.

George Kosinski

Gibsons

Government as sole seller of medical pot disastrous

On April 16, we heard of the long-standing, incredible 1,500 per cent markup on medical marijuana. A day later, Victoria Times columnist Jack Knox reported how Health Canada plans to gain a monopoly on medical marijuana.

If Health Canada does go ahead with the monopoly on medical marijuana and makes Prairie Plant Systems the only provider of such, people will suffer needlessly. My friend, Tom Shapiro, an AIDS patient and medical marijuana user in Regina, will be forced to go back to a product that he has rejected previously as ineffective and comparable to cardboard.

He has a secure medical garden with an alarm system. Along with this convenience, he has also managed to refine his choice as to the strains his designated grower produces to alleviate the symptoms that come along with taking more than 30 medications every day.

It'll be tough to hear Tom tell me that he's gone back to puking his guts out every morning because he won't be allowed to grow the strains that help him.

Compassion clubs and designated growers already provide patients with high quality medical marijuana the government can't seem to produce. Spending more than $5 million, the government can't achieve what a 16-year-old can by using a closet and a good set of lights.

The current system has worked somewhat for the paltry number of medical marijuana patients, who are allowed to access this hallowed plant of which federal politicians seem to be scared to high heaven. Now we're going to see the government peddling schwag in a monopolized manner that biker gangs could probably only dream of.

Ethan Erkiletian

President, Sask. Marijuana Party

Saskatoon

Better Programs Out There

I just had another letter to the editor published, this time in the Nipawin Journal. I wrote my letter in response to some local controversy over the DARE program AKA the Drugs*Are*Really*Excellent program. Here is my two cents:

There are some excellent resources out there for concerned parents and teachers that wish to provide information to young people about drugs that are much more effective than "Just Say No." I highly recommend Educators for Sensible Drug Policy at www.efsdp.org. The Safety1st booklet located at www.safety1st.org contains excellent information that teachers can use to educate their students. They will send you free copies of their booklets if you ask for them.

The RCMP and the DARE program push a "Just Say No" and "All-use-is-abuse" approach to drug education that is counter-productive. The fact is the legal status of a drug is unrelated to its‚ potential to cause a user harm. While I am sure that the police officers get training, they are not qualified teachers. They did not earn a bachelor of education in their police training.

We wouldn't expect a police officer to be qualified to teach reading, writing or arithmetic, so why would we hand them the important job of teaching students about drugs? Handing this job over to the police merely reinforces the idea that drugs are cool and dangerous.

Drugs are not inherently harmful but the ways that they are used have the potential to cause harm. An adult drinking a beer or two is a responsible use of alcohol. Binge drinking and driving while impaired are harmful. Even children's Tylenol can be dangerous if it isn't used properly and that is the message that we need to give to children. We don’t ban knives because knives may hurt children; we teach them how to use a knife responsibly.

If Mr. Kiedrowski is sincere in his desire to learn more about why certain drugs are illegal, I would recommend reading the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, located at www.senatereport.ca. The history of the prohibition of marijuana is marred by propaganda and yellow journalism. It's unfortunate that this ugly period of history is not yet behind us but it is going to take a long time to undo 80-plus years of reefer madness.

Tanya Derbowka, VP, Saskatchewan
Marijuana Party, Saskatoon, Sask.

The debate about the DARE program was nice to see. Maybe we can change a few minds about the need for police to be the gate-keepers of knowledge about drugs. I am not in any way opposed to children seeing police officers as friendly and helpful but that does not mean they should be the ones to teach kids about drugs. A lot of people wrote in to the Nipawin Journal and I am really glad the editor chose to publish such a wide variety of view points.

THC spider?

This video is a lot funnier for those of us that grew up watching CBC television and fondly remember the Hinterland Who's Who clips. They were the highlight of my dorky, nerdy youth. I also thought David Suzuki was pretty cool too. Well what are you waiting for? Quit reading my corny intro and watch the movie!

Also, go and read the excellent LTE that my partner in crime wrote in response to this story.

For some reason the Star Phoenix saw fit to publish his LTE and rejected the one I sent. It reads as follows:

The Star Phoenix does such a wonderful public service offering us such educational material as the Dec. 21 article “Legal Hallucinogen concerns police”. I now know that there is a perfectly legal hallucinogen, that will help me find God, sold at very low prices at a local head shop known as BOBHQ.

I am very glad that the police have let the public know about the scourge that is salvia divinorum. There is not yet any clear scientific evidence of the safety of this substance. We must not let the public become guinea pigs. Clearly, eradicating this menace must be a priority for the Saskatoon Police. The prohibition of drugs has been such a resounding success that adding one more substance to the list will be a small matter and easily accomplished. There is no excuse for allowing this substance to fall into the hands of children. I am shocked, horrified and appalled that this action has not already been taken.

PS: BobHQ is located at 733 Broadway Ave.

What was the editorial board of the Star Phoenix thinking? That's what I want to know.

Legality is poor policy

Randy White, for those of you that do not follow Canadian politics, is a windbag prohibitionist that is a poster boy for reefer madness. He works with the like-minded organization known as the Drug Prevention Network of Canada. Don't click the link and raise their traffic ranking! They are to the drug reform movement what Concerned Women for America is to feminism. They are a bunch of hand-wringing asshat moralists that are committed to promoting prohibition. Just look at the slogan on their site:

To advocate no use of illegal drugs and no abuse of legal drugs including alcohol, tobacco and solvents.

Apparently only legal drugs can be used responsibly. This despite the fact that legal drugs kill far more people than all illegal drugs combined. So every single drag that I take of my completely non-toxic marijuana is abuse due to the fact that marijuana is illegal. They would rather that the public continue to succumb to reefer madness rather than wake up to the fact that marijuana has never killed anyone in all the years it has been used for medicine and recreation. But I am getting off-topic.

I have linked an absolutely embarassingly terrible letter to the editor written by Randy White. Go ahead and read his article and then come back and read my rebuttal, which has a snowflakes' chance in hell of being published. But hey, what the hell is boxing day for but to write unread rebuttals to bloviating coservative moralists that think that keeping teh gays from getting married should be a priority of the Canadian government? Without further ado, my smackdown.

Randy White’s December 22nd letter promoting the aims of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada left me with a number of questions. The mission statement of this organization sounds very positive. It seems difficult to disagree with “To promote a healthy lifestyle — free of drugs, to advocate no use of illegal drugs and no abuse of legal drugs”. It promotes the unspoken assumptions made by those promoting the prohibition of drugs, that the most dangerous drugs were banned in order to protect the public. I guess nobody told them that legal drugs kill far more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. They also seem to unaware of the hundreds of medical marijuana users that benefit from the use of a formerly illegal substance.

Mr. White and the organization he represents seem to be completely unaware of the total and complete failure of the war on drugs. Thanks to decades of prohibition, all illegal drugs are cheaper, stronger and more widely available than ever before, despite the fact that $400 million a year is spent annually on arresting, prosecuting and jailing drug criminals in Canada.

Unlike Mr. White, I have enough faith in politicians to disagree with his view that all politicians promote wasteful policies. In any case I would rather that this money was frittered away on such non-essentials as health care, education or even another Liberal scandal than to see reefer madness compel the continued persecution of people that make the mistake of enjoying the wrong plants.

My LTE appeared in Saturday's Star Phoenix

I wish I could find a picture of the cartoon that inspired me to send off an angry email to the paper. In any case I can assure you that it was stupid enough to justify my letter that mocked it. Without further ado, my letter:

Newshawk: CMAP http://www.mapinc.org/cmap
Pubdate: Saturday, October 7, 2006
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Contact: spnews@SP.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Author: Tanya Derbowka

Dopey thinking behind cartoon on medical pot

I wish I could say I was amused by the cartoon in the Sept. 28 edition of
The SP that portrayed a couple of "typical" stoners discussing the loss of
funding for medical marijuana research.

The loss of funding is another underhanded attack on medical marijuana and I
wouldn't be surprised if the existing medical marijuana program is the next
thing on the Tory chopping block.

It is despicable that only 1,306 terminally ill patients across Canada have
legal access to this medicine, which has proven beneficial to people
suffering from various chronic ailments such as cancer, AIDS and multiple
sclerosis.

The lack of access by sick and dying people to medical marijuana is a highly
contentious issue and is the reason the majority of patients are still going
to the black market to gain access to their medicine. Portraying cannabis
consumers in a stereotypical negative light does nothing to help their
cause.

And you think potheads are the dopes?

Tanya Derbowka
Saskatoon