Oh and I hope were all writing letters, it’s really simple, I’ll bang one off right now.
That everyone can use (but, please change it a bit)

Dear MP,

Recently the newspapers have been littered with articles which speak of talks between Canadian and the US government officials on the topic of a new drug strategy for Canada. I am writing to express my opposition to any drug strategy similar to the one used in the USA.
The US’s approach has proven to be a very ineffective in almost every quantifier, Economicaly, at reducing drug use and at prevention (please go on in your letter).

Bla bla bla, heres some statistics.

In closing I hope that you change your parties approach and continue focusing on the prevention, education and rehabilitation efforts Canada is known for.

In solidarity,

Cannabis.com member

Heres some quick stats.
Or go to www.drugwarfacts.org

$18.822 Billion spent by the American federal government on the drug war in 2002
Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, "National Drug Control Strategy: FY 2003 Budget Summary" (Washington, DC: Office of the President, February 2002), Table 2, p. 6.

a 12 year longitudinal study from the University of Pittsburgh that was released Dec 6th, disproved gateway theory.

The Safer Commission was appointed by President Nixon, and reported that the laws regarding marijuana should be decriminalized in 1972. Instead Nixon placed a moratorium on all research pertaining to Cannabis.

Since 1998 the US federal government has spent over 1 billion dollars on an anti-drug ad campaign that has been proven to increase teen drug use.

The percentage of the general population who have used cocaine is 10.5% in the USA 5 times higher than in the Netherlands.
Source: Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Drug
Policy in the Netherlands: Progress Report September 1997-September
1999, (The Hague: Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, November
1999), p. 6. The report notes "*The figures quoted in this paragraph
for drug use in the US are taken from the National Household
Survey 1997, SAMSHA, Office of Applied Studies, Washington, DC".


Chart:
Comparing Important Drug and Violence Indicators


Social Indicator Comparison Year U.S. Netherlands
================================================== ===============
Lifetime prevalence
of marijuana use
(ages 12+) 2001 36.9% #1 17.0% #2

Past month
prevalence of
marijuana use
(ages 12+) 2001 5.4% #1 3.0% #2

Lifetime prevalence
of heroin use
(ages 12+) 2001 1.4% #1 0.4% #2

Incarceration Rate
per 100,000
population 2002 701 #3 100 #4

Homicide rate per
100,000 population average 1999-2001 5.56 #6 1.51 #6

sources for chart:

Source #1: US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I. Summary of National Findings
(Washington, DC: HHS, August 2002), p. 109, Table H.1.

Source #2: Trimbos Institute, "Report to the EMCDDA by the Reitox
National Focal Point, The Netherlands Drug Situation 2002" (Lisboa,
Portugal: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction,
Nov. 2002), p. 28, Table 2.1.

Source #3: Walmsley, Roy, "World Prison Population List (fifth
edition) (London, England: Research, Development and Statistics
Directorate of the Home Office), Dec. 2003, p. 3, Table 2.

Source #4: Walmsley, Roy, "World Prison Population List (fifth
edition) (London, England: Research, Development and Statistics
Directorate of the Home Office), Dec. 2003, p. 5, Table 4.

Source #5: van Dijk, Frans & Jaap de Waard, "Legal infrastructure of
the Netherlands in international perspective: Crime control"
(Netherlands: Ministry of Justice, June 2000), p. 9, Table S.13.

Source #6: Barclay, Gordon, Cynthia Tavares, Sally Kenny, Arsalaan
Siddique & Emma Wilby, "International comparisons of criminal justice
statistics 2001," Issue 12/03 (London, England: Home Office Research,
Development & Statistics Directorate, October 2003), p. 10, Table 1.1.
harris7 Reviewed by harris7 on . US drug war comes to CANADA!!!!!! Today i awoke at 6am to make my way to my last exam for this semester. And what do I awake to, the newspaper heading " Canada looks to USA for drug policy hints" (FUCK THAT) anyways the exam didn't go well. PLEASE all Canadians write to your MP. The conservatives are very susceptible to criticism now as they are lower in the polls than the Liberals and the Clean air act sucked balls (and everyone knows). It is very easy to find your MP online and it only takes a few minuets to Rating: 5