Out
of joint (1) : Published letter
Source: York Press
Date: November 22 2007
Author: Alun Buffry
Aled Jones writes that "cannabis is the kiss of death for any
society".
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/readersletters/display.var.1842577.0.drug_is_lethal.php
It's strange, then, since cannabis has been widely used for thousands of years
around the globe, that human society not just survived, but thrived until the
disaster of prohibition came along.
Since the 1960s, more than one million people in Britain have been given
criminal records and punished for cannabis offences - most of whom certainly
did no harm to anyone else.
A policy such as prohibition turns one section of society against another,
wastes billions of pounds of taxpayers' money and police time, does far more
harm than good, and has created many of the problems surrounding cannabis use
today.
If cannabis is legalised it will be safer for everyone - irrespective of how
safe or dangerous per se is its use.
As for Aled's claim that "cannabis actually contains 50 per cent more
cancer-causing carcinogens than tobacco - making it one very mean drug",
it's meaningless.
Almost everything we eat contains carcinogens, but that does not mean that the
food causes cancer, because the chemicals exist in combination with others. And
in any case that would be no reason to punish individual users who do no harm
to others.
If there is no victim, then there should be no crime.
Alun Buffry, Norwich.
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/readersletters/display.var.1852429.0.out_of_joint.php