MPS HAVE POT LEGALIZATION ALL WRONG

Re: `legalizing pot sends wrong message, say Calgary MP's,' Calgary Herald,
May 30.

You quoted MP Art Hanger as saying,'By legalizing weed, we're
sending the wrong message to young people that it is no worse than
smoking. It is certainly worse than smoking.' I hope the media won't
let Hanger get away with such a statement without providing supporting
evidence.

By allowing tobacco to be legal the message is: `Tobacco is less
harmful than marijuana.' That is clearly a falsehood. Nearly every
year half a million United States citizens die every year from
tobacco-related diseases while there hasn't been one such death from
marijuana in the last year or the year before.

Gerald M. Sutcliff
Emeryville, Calf.