Dear Editor:
The legalization of marijuana from a social and financial viewpoint seems to make sense. Control its use via government regulation, decriminalize the user, and tax the hell out of it.
However, the whole debate is ignoring the elephant in the room, the United States of America. Approximately 90 per cent of the illegal crop, controlled by organized crime groups, is imported into the U.S.
This is where the gangs make their unbelievable profits, and the control of these profits is where the violence comes into the equation.
Even if marijuana is legalized here in Canada, the gangs will still be controlling the illegal production and importation of the product heading south.
This will never change, unless the U.S.A. legalizes marijuana, and that will never occur.
Larry Melnyk, Burnaby
