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LETTER: Pot legalization just introduction of another intoxicant

Marc Emery is a convicted criminal who not only committed a crime knowing it was against the law at the time...

The “Prince” returned to Canada last week.

A victim? A wrong-done-by martyr? Hardly. Marc Emery is a convicted criminal who not only committed a crime knowing it was against the law at the time, but now insists he’s planning to do it again while promising to get revenge on the people who allegedly did him wrong and sent him to prison.

Regardless of your position on the use of marijuana, any idiot with working brain cells knows that the use, possession or cultivation is illegal with very few exceptions, and the laws (until changed)  may result in significant consequences if one decides to ignore them.  To break the law knowingly, get caught and be forced to pay does not make Mr. Emery a hero or a martyr in anyone’s mind but his.

In fact, Marc Emery and his followers’ comments and various actions may exemplify that too much pot does have adverse mental effects.

Even more puzzling is the idea that Jody Emery is seeking to run for the Liberal party nomination solely on the basis of being a pro pot supporter.

I’m not sure which would be worse. Her, thinking that legal pot is really that important that she should be a part of the federal government, or the Liberal party giving her the nomination thinking that pot is that important in the average person’s life. It isn’t.

There are a lot more important issues to deal with than to legalize another way to get high.

Until such time as true medical research is done to firmly determine the benefits (there have been some demonstrated) or detriments (there are lots of those too) involved in widespread use of pot, all that is likely to happen in legalization is the fact we will be introducing another intoxicant for public use that will undoubtedly cause more problems than we see now.

For those who offer the vast riches in the taxes the government will collect really should sober up, too. If it’s legalized and the government gets involved, you can be sure the people who produce the present supply of pot can undercut anything the government can try to tax.

Finally, with respect to the legendary Mr. Marc Emery, I have to assume that he has a martyr’s complex because he seems pretty adamant about ending up back in prison. Perhaps we can misplace the key next time.

Maybe there’ll be a sainthood in it for the prince?

F. Forshner

Abbotsford