Government pot sucks

[Re: “The best dope from the best dealers,” News, Angel, Oct. 30] As a federally licensed medical marijuana user, I have had the misfortune of having once tried the government-grown pot. It was terrible. It didn’t even look like pot, it looked like the stuff you sprinkle on the floor to soak up puke. It works great for that, incidentally, but at $5 a gram, it’s a bit pricey.

Leave it to the Federal Government to screw up something that even stoners can get right.

>>Russell Barth, Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis

Love thy franco/
anglo neighbour

[Re: “Culture politics,” and “East-End vs. bigots,” News, Front, Oct. 23] Thanks for reporting on these two anti-racism events in last week’s issue. Racism in all its forms must be eliminated, and any event with this mission should be supported whole-heartedly.

That having been said, I wish more would be done in this city to combat a more common—and dare I say more pressing—form of racism; that between anglophones and francophones. Though it may not fall under the classification of racism (as either anglos or francos can be from many racial backgrounds), there still seems to be an underlying tension between the two groups.

Prejudice, spawned likely from misunderstanding, perpetuates more negative feelings and holds us back from embracing one another as fellow Canadians. Only once these attitudes are done away with will we be able to fully enjoy cultural harmony in this beautiful city.

>>Reg McLean

Objecting
conscientiously

[Re: “Voter apathy is a statement,” Letters, Oct. 30] The problem of talking in terms of “unjust wars” is that it leaves “just wars” floating about. Then the focus becomes the ideology rather than the means of solving those differences. It doesn’t question the very existence of war, it just extends the argument that was the cause in the first place. It ignores the great damage done by fighting, to the soldiers and the civilian population. It ignores the money spent on war when it could be used for more important things.

War is unjust because of the people killed and the damage done to society. Every so often, there are wars that test the resolve of pacifists. How can they refuse even in the presence of evil? They have to—even when it isn’t popular, because they know war is wrong.

During WWII, men received Conscientious Objector status, and then walked out of the camps where they were supposed to serve, thus landing in prison.

David Dellinger had religious exemption as a seminary student, but refused to register for the draft, going to jail instead. Corbett Bishop went to prison for a year, and refused to even feed himself. Jim Peck went to prison for refusing to kill, and while serving his time he worked to desegregate the prison. Afterwards, one of the many things he was involved with were Freedom Rides, getting nearly beaten to death in 1961. I doubt he thought Hitler was swell.

Each year means fewer of these WWII pacifists alive, and only the most visible get mainstream obituaries.

During the Vietnam War many people came to Canada to avoid the draft. There are lots of war resistors in the U.S. today. They know that the armed forces represent war, just like those WWII COs who went to jail for their convictions rather than taking an easier road.

There are those who are more vocal, deliberately breaking laws to protest war, and going to jail for it. When Martha Stewart went to jail, a nun, Sister Carol Gilbert, was in the same prison, for breaking into a missile site.

These people are there to remind us that some will make a sacrifice for their beliefs. They sit there in prison to remind us that peace is the way.

>>Michael Black

Mirror Mask Winner

After hundreds of thousands of entries, a random draw from the hat declared that the winner of this years Mask Yourself contest is Rosario Gallardo, who was bold enough to flaunt her “Glenn Close without make-up” costume at the Broken Social Scene show.

Congratulations Rosario! Contact letters@mtl-mirror.com to receive details about your prize.

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