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v v hv i- ia hufv a iv 9 t p4the tribune thursday september 18 1997 st the tribune thursday september 18 1997 vol 109 no 58 mions send your letters to the editor to the address below ual bouchards reaction entirely predictable it goes on and on the premiers get together for a meeting everyone but quebecs lucien bouchard attends those at the meeting talk about the importance of national unity and a strong canada they even offer an olive branch to quebec by expressing willingness to rec ognize such concepts as distinct or unique bouchard then throws it back in their faces he mocks ridicules postures and then boldy states that the only acceptable alternative for quebec is separation it makes you wonder why the rest of canada even bothers to try its all so predictable even the premiers themselves seem to be getting tired of the game new brunswicks frank mckenna cer tainly knows the score when it comes to the sovereignty debate what did we expect from mr bouchard he said after being informed of the quebec leaders latest tirade we know that theres nothing short of the separation of quebec from canada that would be acceptable to him frustrating as it may be we must continue to make national unity a key topic of discussion and political action the message must continue to be sent to the people not the politicians of quebec that we are one country yes we certainly have our dif ferences and we are willing to recognize those differences but we will never allow our country to be split up bouchards hysterical reactions to what the premiers are doing shows how scared he is of this message getting through to the ordinary people of quebec by mocking it he tries to belittle it hopefully quebecers see through his charade marijuana is not just harmless chemical dear editor arthur blacks concern for the thousands of people in canada with criminal records thanks he says to murphys law and the contribution of emily f murphy murphys law explains mari juana use weekender sept 6 is misplaced and naive black would have us believe marijuana is a relatively harm less chemical and that all the present day fuss about it can be attributed to a flaming racist from the past as one who has spent more letters disappointing column loan dear editor re joan ransberry your column of aug 26 going topless yes kissing another woman no was disap pointing it should have been called things joan doesnt do joan supports toplessness but doesnt do it joan knows about the sexfood restaurant in ny but doesnt go there joan doesnt mind women french kissing well assume but doesnt do that either joan also has heard a great speech in church but obviously doesnt go there enough to hear any others by the wayjr disappointed in god maybe he is disap pointed in you good grief jr this town is full of crime drugs divorce violence things you can do something about who cares about all things you dont do ron boyd stouffville than 18 years working in the addiction field i can assure you that the present day concern regarding marijuana has nothing to do with the past sins of our law makers rather it has everything to do with the fact that marijuana is a dangerous drug that can and does cause havoc particularly among adolescents marijuana smoke is filled with hundreds of complex chemicals including more tar than ciga rettes but dont tell me that marijua na is less harmful than cigarettes because it is only smoked occa sionally most marijuana users are also cigarette smokers so the harm ful effect upon the lungs is com pounded new research has confirmed that regular to heavy use of mar ijuana can cause permanent da mage to the cognitive systems of the brain serious learning impairment is something i personally observed as a special education teacher in the 1970s when i taught school in markham the marijuana used by students today is far more potent than it was back then perhaps arthur black should take his nose out of the history books and start looking at cur rent realities before suggesting that we relax our drug laws karl n burden wellwritten loan dear editor re joan ransberry s aug 19 column emergency crews not paid nearly enough thank you very much for a wellwritten article ive posted a copy of the article at both bases to ensure everyone has seen it thanks again and it was a pleasure to have you with us pete j carell uxbridge stouffville ambulance pay tribute to mother teresa by following her example dear editor mother teresa must be turning in her grave at the profligate waste and vainglorious panoply of her funeral if we are to learn anything from this selfless diminutive woman it should be that the soul receives its finest reward from helping others at ground zero not by supporting gold- plated institutions of church and state the fact that she was wrong about birth control and abortion and many other things pro grammed into her by the archaic asexual brethren of her upbring ing does not lessen the value of either her contribution or exam ple tony 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