Pubdate: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 Date: 09/11/1998 Source: Vancouver Province (Canada) Author: Steve Middleton This article showed us all, once again, the gap that exists between those of us who live in the real world, and those who live in an artificial world where money and power abound, but reality rarely touches their lives. How else can we explain our prime minister golfing while our dollar turns to toilet paper, or a cabinet minister refusing to acknowledge the very people his job depends on as their lives are shattered by his mismanagement? Marijuana decriminalization is just another example of how we are shut out of the democratic system our government touts as one of the best in the world. Steve Middleton NORTH VANCOUVER