In some teens, pot will ‘kill your dreams,’ counsellor says
Gordon Clark wrote an excellent column in Monday’s paper. The pro-marijuana-side argument is full of partial truths and, in some cases, untruths.
I work in five secondary schools and have seen first-hand the trouble regular marijuana use causes our youth. Pot may not kill you, but it will kill your dreams.
Last month, I attended a conference on drug and alcohol abuse in Boise, Idaho. Leaders from both the state and school system in Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2012, presented, and the impact from legal, recreational marijuana has been significant on kids, especially kids in school.
Thanks for publishing the column; I’m sure the pushback has been significant.
Doug Rogers, School District 22, Vernon
City using common sense
Wednesday’s column by Gordon Clark misuses research to back up a weak argument against what Vancouver is trying to achieve through its regulation of medicalmarijuana dispensaries.
What the city is doing is progressive and should be supported by anyone who likes evidenced-based approaches to policy. The city has for a long time stopped enforcing cannabis possession, as it is seen as a drain on limited police and court resources for no gain to public safety.
The reason we have more than a hundred marijuana dispensaries is that there is a huge appetite for this drug. Most of it is probably recreational, but a sizable amount of it is for medical conditions. It may not cure anything, but it does reduce suffering and it is safe.
When you weigh its desirability, utility and safety against the negative consequences of prohibition, it is clear that what the city is doing is the type of governance that we should all expect from our elected politicians.
Forman Howes, Vancouver
Council should be fired
Am I the only one who sees the huge hypocrisy in Vancouver city council allowing medical-marijuana dispensaries, yet forcing the hookah shop to close after being in business for 17 years?
I cannot believe that a city council would so openly defy federal laws. The whole lot of them should be fired, including the mayor. If they had done their jobs properly and nipped the first dispensaries in the “bud” immediately, like other cities, the number of pot shops wouldn’t have grown to nearly 100.
Sylvia Taylor, Surrey
Wait times not accurate
The way the B.C. government’s publicized surgical wait times are calculated is extremely misleading. They only measure from the day the surgery is scheduled to the day it is performed.
The timer on wait times should start when you present your symptoms to the first medical professional in the treatment chain. Whether you are waiting for tests, or waiting to see a specialist, or waiting in a queue for treatment, you are nonetheless waiting.
Wait times that ignore your wait before being scheduled for surgery are meaningless.
Steen Petersen, Nanaimo
Nix the netminders
Re: Proposed three-on-three overtime to decide NHL games.
Seeing as we’re talking the ridiculous, how about five-on-five with no goalies and the winner is the team with the most goals after five minutes? Hah.
George Mann, Surrey