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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Drug Ban Is Not The Way Carl Wagner Letters, Hull Daily Mail Wednesday 25 Jul 2001 Prohibition Of Cannabis Does More Harm Than Good The decision to legalise cannabis should rest on whether prohibition does more harm than good. Good laws should reflect the latest scientific understanding, be accepted by the public as fair, be enforceable, consistent, and conform to international human rights law. A good law must command respect, and to achieve this it must strike a balance between the interests of society and those of the individual. Branding a person a criminal must be one of the most serious things that a society can do. It stigmatises people; it can cost them their life-savings, possessions and property, and can essentially ruin their lives. Clearly, it isn't anything that should be done on the basis of misinformation and exaggeration, or by using arguments of convenience. The Government has conveniently used "the need to protect our children from vile drug dealers" and "the scourge of drugs" as an excuse for waging an irrational war on adult cannabis smokers, but the majority of people who end up with drug-related criminal records are young. Their "crime" is most often the victimless non-crime of having a joint or two in their pocket or purse at the wrong time and place. Realistically, can the prohibitionists' offer one valid reason for maintaining a law that criminalises millions of people, gives rise to organised crime, increases underage usage, diminishes freedom, promotes disrespect for the law, poisons, and does not curtail usage? Carl Wagner, Legalise Cannabis Alliance, Victoria Square, Ella Street, Hull.
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