Pubdate: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: David Polk POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY I can see ticketing for consumption of marijuana in a place or manner likely to be a threat to public safety - kind of like liquor laws. But, I do not understand why consumption of marijuana in a private place without causing any harm would lead to any action by police. Of course, the government does not want to decriminalize or legalize pot as this would not work well with its base. So it has to contort legislation to appease the base. As always, with the government, political considerations trump public policy. David Polk, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom