Pubdate: Fri, 05 May 2006
Source: Daily News, The (CN NS)
Copyright: 2006 The Daily News
Contact:  http://www.hfxnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/179
Author: Lindsey Keilty
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POT AUTHOR URGES LEGALIZATION

HALIFAX - Brian O'Dea spent 10 years in prison for importing 75 tons 
for marijuana into the United States in the 1980s. Now, he is telling 
his story of addiction and recovery in a book, while also sending 
another strong message - he's promoting the legalization and 
organized distribution of illegal drugs.

O'Dea used marijuana while attending university in Halifax in the 
late 1960s and as his attendance declined, his drug intake increased. 
His memoir, High: Confessions of a Pot Smuggler hit bookshelves this 
month and is receiving rave reviews.

"I don't know a lot about what (the drug trade) is like today, but 
from what I read, it's much more violent, neighbourhoods are 
controlled by drug distributors," the Newfoundland native said.

O'Dea says he finds it odd that cigarettes and alcohol are available 
for legal distribution, but drugs are not.

He says branding people as criminals because they use certain 
substances to "get out of their minds" is hypocrisy.

"The way that we've structured drug laws today have created a 
criminal subculture that has taken control of our neighbourhoods," he said.

"Give the neighbourhoods back to the people that live in them, 
legitimize drugs, make them legal. Put drugs where they should be, 
through legal distribution centres so they can be distributed to 
people who want to use them.

"All of the violence around drug use is around the control of its 
distribution."

Cpl. Gary Frail of the RCMPs Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness 
Service strongly disagrees.

"Drugs are illegal because they're bad; they're not bad because 
they're illegal," said Frail.

"We refute (legalization) 1,000 per cent; legalization would just 
lead to more victims of addiction."

Frail said that organized crime is not going to go away if drugs are 
legalized because drugs are only one part of a larger problem.

The Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse released a document last 
week, tallying the cost of substance abuse in Canada in 2002. Illegal 
drugs accounted for about $8.2 billion in expense from categories 
such as productivity loss, health-care costs, and law-enforcement burdens.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman