Subject: Re: Controversial legal hallucinogen ‘safe:’
I agree with Porter Creek Secondary drug awareness co-ordinator Doug Green that anything that causes people to hallucinate should be controlled, including solvents. Health Canada should certainly enforce quality control, labeling and age restrictions.
However, adding the hallucinogenic herb Salvia divonorum to the so-called Controlled Drugs and Substances Act would make matters much worse.
As counterintuitive as it seems, criminal prohibition is at the bottom, not the top, of the regulatory scale. We have more control over cat food than we do over cannabis and cocaine.
Although Green is correct in noting underaged drinking remains a problem, most Canadian teenagers report that cannabis is easier to obtain than alcohol and tobacco, and more report having tried cannabis than tobacco.
Prohibition merely inflates the “street value” of drugs and substances and abdicates control over them to criminals who are not as concerned about the age, health and awareness of their clients as legally regulated markets, such as the Adult Warehouse.
Matthew M. Elrod
Victoria, BC