Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 Source: Pipestone Flyer (CN AB) Copyright: 2005, Pipestone Publishing, Millet, Alberta Contact: http://www.pipestoneflyer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3736 Author: Tyson Campbell Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n898/a08.html?77711 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) RE: ONE MORE TIME, BECAUSE I LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE TAKE VERBAL POTSHOTS AT ME Alright you dared me to it. Last time I checked the United States had about 100 times the population that Alberta has, so I'm not surprised that most of the people who wrote you are from there. But alas, there are people in Alberta who agree that prohibition is useless and a complete waste of money, me being one of them. First of all, the Bible does not support marijuana prohibition as it clearly states that God gave us all the seed bearing plants for food. It's actually right on the first page. Clearly, I should be able to eat it without violating Christian spiritual directives. About the only ban that could be upheld on cannabis, following this logic, is on the smoking of it. This is very far from reality though, as we all know you are not even allowed to hold it in your hand without violating a Canadian law. Second of all, drugs are rampant in our culture. My anti-prohibition views stem from seeing my home town of Hinton get completely overrun by crystal meth a decade ago. How was prohibition helping then? I have friends who got hooked on speed and used marijuana to successfully get off of it. Again prohibition was not helping anyone. To top it off, meth is still a problem there and I was informed recently by a recent high school graduate that "cocaine is the new weed." I'm scared as hell for all the kids out there. Police routinely lie to them about marijuana, as I was, which completely destroys the credibility of the police on other matters amongst our young population, which in turn exasperates the hard drug problem. Prohibition has had 80 years to work its magic to no avail. Billions of dollars have been wasted in this effort. I am absolutely shocked that there are not more so-called rednecks in this province who are up in arms about this. This is literally another case of the Liberal government wasting our money. Just to assuage your fears, I have never heard of anyone supporting a drug free for all. The idea is that through legalization AND regulation we can more effectively control the drug problem. Drugs are hiding everywhere entirely because of prohibition. Who knows whose kid is going to run into them? I did not always have these views, but once I saw for myself what is really going on out there I learned. And you're going to have a hell of a time actually convincing me that prohibition is a good Christian thing to do. It might have seemed that way at one time, but the truth is painful. Tyson Campbell, Calgary - ----------------------------------- I don't personally support either your view or that of prohibition. The Bible is there for a guide and you may use it as you wish. I choose to live by what the scriptures tell me, and not interpret them for my own ends. However you are correct on one point, God did dedicate the use of everything on earth for man's use, including arsenic, but I don't see a lot of people jumping up to take any. We all have the God given free will to do what we chose, some choose wrongly. Ted Okkerse - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom