The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, October 8, 2015 | 10 Where do they stand? continued from p.7 by the government, making it harder for children and teens to obtain it. "Legalizing marijuana is one of the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids because the current model is just not working. We feel strongly that taxing the drug would also help re-direct marijuana funds away from organized criminals. The Conservatives' approach to marijuana is failing our children. As we know from a recent World Health Organization report, Canada has the highest teen usage of marijuana amongst the countries surveyed. The NDP's decriminalization-only program will keep production and distribution in the hands of gangs, doing nothing to keep it out of the hands of children or protect Canadians' public safety concerns, and still allows gangs to collect proceeds. With respect to medical marijuana, the Conservative government has been completely contradictory in its approach. We are committed to controlling and regulating marijuana, ensuring that those patients who can truly benefit from the use of it for pain and symptom control have access to it. It is a quality of life issue." Oakville North--Burlington NDP Janice Best "New Democrats have long said (i.e., for decades) that no one should be going to jail or be stuck with a criminal record for possession of marijuana for personal use. We have pledged to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana immediately. When it comes to marijuana, we need an approach that focuses on health promotion, public education, and safety." Oakville North--Burlington Green Party candidate Adnan Shahbaz Between 2008 and 2011, according to the Department of Justice, Canada spent $311 million targeting illicit drugs, with a majority of that money going to law enforcement. Most of that was for the `war' against cannabis (marijuana). "Marijuana prohibition is also prohibitively costly in other ways, including criminalizing youth and fostering organized crime. Cannabis prohibition, which has gone on for decades, has utterly failed and has not led to reduced drug use in Canada. After analyzing the recommendation of the Canadian Senate's 2002 Special Committee on Drugs and the examples of strategies used by some European countries, the Green Party of Canada has come to the conclusion that it is time to legalize the adult use of marijuana. "Furthermore, the Greens believe drug addictions should be treated as a health problem, not as criminal offences. AUTUMN WEEKEND DAY SPECIALS HOUSEHOLD MOVES