Not all residents of Flin Flon are happy about the shirt and not all the people find the t-shirts fun and harmless. Here is a letter to the Editor from Mr. Ron Dobson stating his disapproval with the tees.

Editor:

As a person who was born and raised in Flin Flon, I must express my dismay at our new image as the marijuana growing capital of Canada.

National News Reports indicate that this image has recently spread to cities throughout Canada and even beyond.

This is not my impression of my hometown, although it certainly seems to be what some others think of us now.

The marijuana debate has been around for years, and now with the decision by Health Canada to grow pot in our back yard, it has resurfaced in our community.

At first I thought it was a good idea that Health Canada was doing, finding new ways to help people cope with the side affects of very serious diseases. However, with the recent promotion on a local t-shirt of Flin Flon as a pot growing capital, I now wish Health Canada would have selected a different remote mining site.

I guess what upsets me the most is that some people think there's nothing wrong with walking down the street wearing a t-shirt that links Flin Flon to an illegal drug.

The illustration on the t-shirt makes no reference to the value of marijuana as a possible medicine. Rather, its image, and accompanying words, promote the "street drug" that marijuana has become.

What kind of message do you think this will give to the youth of the community?

Don't you think that, just maybe a 12-year old might get the impression that smoking marijuana is okay, especially when adults in the community proudly display it on the front of their t-shirts?

I realize there are people who feel very strongly about their rights to decide for themselves whether or not marijuana is harmful, and whether or not smoking it can lead to harder drugs. But I would like to ask these people to think twice before parading this image in front of our youth.

This isn't just a harmless joke. Images like this have the power to influence a young person into saying "okay" the next time someone offers him or her a joint. And by the way, the type of person who offers to sell a youth a joint will often have "something else" for sale as well.

Is Flin Flon the marijuana growing capital of Canada? No, we're not. This dubious award probably goes to some small community in the interior of British Columbia.

However, like it or not, places that do grow marijuana for illegal street use are looking to towns like Flin Flon as a place for its distribution.

Let's work together to make it more difficult for them to find new customers here, rather than to unwisely help promote images of their product

Ron Dobson