Legalize it

[Re: “Criticize it,” Nov. 22] All humour aside, who really stands to gain if pot stays illegal? The people that stand the most to lose—if the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis (marijuana) is re-legalized—is the law enforcement community, which includes the prison industry.

The focus of the failed war on drugs is cannabis; the financial boon to the enforcers is a gravy train like no other, complete with jobs, power and corruption opportunities. End cannabis prohibition and their labour unions will hurt worse than they have hurt the humans they’ve caged for using the beneficial plant. And that’s pretty bad.

>> Stan White, Dillon, Colorado

Like Raf Katigbak, some of the excesses of pot culture and the circus that goes along with it are not for me. However, the “cheesiness” that comes with it is simply an expression that comes when any culture is looked down at.

While sometimes I tire of gay friends’ love for Liza Minnelli and buttless chaps, when it comes down to it, I strongly support their right to associate, live with, love and marry the person of their choice. The same goes for cannabis users, be it medical or recreational.

>> Tim Meehan

Ethical eating

[Re: “Vegans vs. food snobs,” Nov. 8] Lucas Soloway’s letter on the bad rap so often associated with vegetarians and, more specifically, vegans is an important one. It calls attention to the resistance often faced by those who choose to take a stand and speak out against widely accepted social practices involving elements of inequality and injustice. Having been a vegetarian all my life, I am well aware of this reality and have an idea as to why this is so.

Most people simply do not want to hear the horrifying truth behind the origins of the meat on their plate or the leather coat on their back—they want to be able to enjoy a juicy steak or feel free to buy luxury leather goods without feeling guilty.

In order to successfully do this, they alienate and ridicule those of us who question the implications involved in our actions, as opposed to blindly following the practices of the mainstream. In so doing, they are able to maintain a clear conscience and make those of us who cannot turn a blind eye to the truth look like the bad guys when, upon closer examination, is it not they who have something to feel bad about?

For more information on the widely accepted forms of animal abuse, go to www.gan.ca.

>> Erica Leibner, Volunteer at Global Action Network

Affordable housing now

[Re: “FRAPRU in action,” Nov. 8] It looks like FRAPRU is emphasizing the wrong tactic in regard to its advocacy of more low-cost housing. What’s the point of fighting for the doubling of social housing units in Quebec when we already know how little Finance Minister Jérôme-Forget is planning to build in the coming year? What happens if our protest can’t change her mind?

The issue of exorbitant rents faced by those who can hardly afford them is too fundamental to be relegated to some waiting list. This problem needs an immediate solution—whether affordable units are available or not. For someone on welfare, for example, to be told his rent will be covered only up to a certain amount is nonsense. Is it his fault if he couldn’t find a cheaper apartment?

In other words, if the government fails to be responsible by way of units, it’ll have to be responsible by way of cash. That’s why other strategies “to develop new programs,” as FRAPRU coordinator Saillant suggested, should take centre stage. There already exists a shelter allowance program given by the provincial government to help those on limited income to pay their rent. I don’t know how substantial or widespread this subsidy is now, but it should definitely be expanded and adequately applied wherever people are suffering from high housing costs.

>> L.S. Cattarini

Thesis defence

[Re: “Thesis goes to court,” Nov. 8] The Mirror’s report on the defence of my doctoral thesis at l’UQAM’s political science department reveals the tendency to corporatize academic institutions, alongside the loss of its academic integrity. How a thesis can be stopped just before its defence hearing without even a meeting of its jury is beyond reason.

The report made by Samer Elatrash is accurate except for the description of the Jewish groups that I have been the co-founder of. The Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians (ACJC) of 2005 and the local Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation of 2001 were both founded to call for the end of the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

In the ACJC, which is across Canada, we are 183 diverse opinions on how the conflict will be resolved but we all know that the occupation has to end immediately, even though we do not project any one solution; consequently, the ACJC is not “anti-Zionist” as announced in the report.

>> Abraham Weizfeld

WE WELCOME LETTERS TO THE EDITOR!