THE RAW AND UGLY SIDE OF LIFE

Judging by the amount and sizes of grow-ups busted by the cops, there
must be a very large amount of Canadians that smoke marijuana.

Despite all these busts new grow-ups spring up all over the place.

To me it indicates that there is a large demand and that crops are
very profitable, hence the involvement of the criminal element.

If the damage to houses, the building of underground bunkers, the
installation costs of grow-ops, the stolen electricity and the time
spent by the police to find and prosecute the people who run these
operations is considered.

The amount of money involved becomes staggering.

Since for every grow-op busted another one springs up, it seems to be
an endless task where only the criminal element profits and all too
many cops are involved in busting these operations.

Since the police has been battling the use and growing of marijuana
at least since the early seventies, one would think that after forty
years there would be some decrease instead of increased use of this drug.

It seems strange to me that a relatively mild drug such as marijuana
has such a problem being legalized.

I have never heard of marijuana anonymous nor of anybody attacking
their family after smoking a joint, or ruining their kidneys, liver
and brain as so often happens with alcohol.

Having lived in artist quarters on both the American and European
continent, I have seen the ravages caused by alcohol and hard drugs.

For economical reasons artist quarters are usually in the poorest
part of cities and that is where the poorest part of the population
lives including the so called down and outs.

It is the raw side of life alright.

I found the amount of people who had become addicts of hard drugs and
alcohol were from all ranks and layers in our society.

Just the same I could have done without seeing friends and people I
knew turn into skeletons of themselves sick of mind and body.

For that reason I fervently dislike people who deal in hard drugs,
"pusher men" we used to call them.

However, I do not understand why alcohol with all its negative
possibilities is accepted and marijuana that is a far more harmless
drug is not.

The money and effort spent on trying to wipe out the use and
production of marijuana could be better spent on hospitals and
education while at the same time freeing the police to go after hard
drug dealers and sex criminals.

The elimination of the criminal element involved in the production,
distribution and sale of this soft drug is another positive point for
legalizing this drug.

I think the majority of Canadians are capable in making the choice
whether they want to buy alcohol or marijuana and use it for
enjoyment at home where it is safe to use.

In a society that is getting more stressed out as time progresses
there are a lot more important things to deal with than the wasted
effort to wipe out marijuana use.

Bert de Vink's a long-time Quesnel resident who wrote for the Cariboo
Observer from the mid 80's to the late 90's.

The Observer is pleased de Vink once again decided to put pen to paper.