Pubdate: Fri, 17 Sep 2004
Source: Morning Star, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 The Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1352
Author:  Tim Fitzgerald
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

STIRRING THE POT

Pardon the cliche, but it's high-time the federal government resolved the 
marijuana issue that seems to be clouding the horizon in Vancouver.

For more than 80 years the government has kept the policy of prohibition on 
the books, forcing one of the most controversial plants known to man into 
hiding.

Vancouver, and B.C. for that matter, is world renowned for its production 
of the illegal plant. We also happen to be world renowned for our lax 
policies on enforcement. The Da Kine Smoke and Beverage shop has been 
plastered all over the front pages of the Vancouver dailies as it openly 
flaunts the law, selling small quantities to those who make their way to 
Commercial Drive. Residential homes in the suburbs are quickly transforming 
themselves from quiet neighbourhoods into small-scale marijuana factories.

And despite the best efforts of the police and the courts, little has been 
accomplished in the "war on drugs."

That's not entirely true. The government has managed to spend billions in 
its efforts to slow the production and distribution. They have also created 
one of the most lucrative, illegal, highly accessible cash-crops for 
criminal organizations to tap into. And they have missed out on billions of 
tax revenue, a source of income so desperately sought after by governments 
desperate to raise new revenue.

There is a simple reason for the failure in the drug war - prohibition 
doesn't work. And what's worse, policies built around them are destined to 
fail, because there will always be a market for the product. If after 
80-plus years of fighting to keep marijuana illegal and this is the best we 
can do, I suggest it's time to look in another direction. The federal 
government's sponsorship program accomplished more than our current 
policies on marijuana.

According to Statistics Canada, more than 10 million Canadians have tried 
marijuana at least once. In 2001, 49,639 people were arrested for 
marijuana-related crimes. In the same year, the U.S. reported 734,498 pot 
arrests. More than 600,000 Canadians have a record for possession.

In Canada less than one per cent of the nation's marijuana users are caught 
by police - and half are released with a warning.

Report after report by the federal government has called for the end of the 
prohibition era. It began in 1972 with the LeDain Commission. Most 
recently, the Senate committee on Illegal Drugs spent two years researching 
the issue. It goes so far as to recommend the legalization of marijuana. 
The committee reported the current policies should be replaced by a 
regulated system that focuses on illegal trafficking, prevention programs 
and respecting individual and collective freedoms.

"In our opinion, Canadian society is ready for a responsible policy of 
cannabis regulation that complies with these basic strategies," the report 
states.

It goes on to say what advocates have been conveying for years, that 
"scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is 
substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a 
criminal issue, but as a social and health issue."

Advocates for the current system claim this is open-door policy for drug 
pushers, resulting in spikes in consumption.

Nonsense. With the current system in place, there are plenty of people 
ready to take a minimal risk and start their own garden right in your 
neighbourhood.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager