TORONTO — A claim on eBay that a Canadian man was putting a popular video game up for sale rather than give it to his pot-smoking son has sparked an online debate and led to the item being bid up to more than $9,000 -- 100 times its retail value.

"While I doubt this will keep him from ever smoking pot again, I think it will make him think twice before doing illegal drugs on my property,'' the man, with the user name "k_lid'' and identified only as from Canada, said on a letter accompanying the game's sale on the online auction site eBay.

K-lid said he found it hard to justify rewarding his 15-year-old son with the gift after he found the boy smoking pot in the backyard and "greatly disappointed me''.

''I am an elementary school teacher and I know that rewarding bad behaviour is just asking for more of the same," reads the letter.

While the site did not offer more details about the seller and he could not immediately be contacted, he was listed as a good-faith eBay user since 2002.

The compassionate letter attracted hundreds of comments from other eBay users, most of them siding with the disappointed father.

Others accused him of publicly humiliating his son. The game in question was the hard-to-find "Guitar Hero III'' for the Nintendo Wii.

Even websites joined in the discussion.

justpressplay.net ran the father's letter with an invitation of its own at the end:

"If you want to help ruin this kid's holiday spirit even more, bid on the auction here,'' said a story on the website providing a link to the auction.

After 42 bids the unopened $89.99 game -- released in October -- sold on Dec. 10 for $9,100.01 to an Australian buyer by the user name "aspire1700computer''.

EBay auctions are often purchased for unusually high prices by buyers seeking publicity.

''Most of you have supported me'' the defiant dad wrote after the auction closed.

"Some of you think I should just shrug off the pot-smoking incident, but I think most of those people do not have children of their own''.

And to his son -- "I hope you've learned your lesson.''