Pubdate: Fri, 20 Jul 2007
Source: Lac du Bonnet Leader (CN MB)
Copyright: 2007 Lac du Bonnet Leader
Contact: http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=211&x=contact
Website: http://www.lacdubonnetleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2956
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n856/a03.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

JUST SAY NO, CANADA

Re: War on drugs going to pot, July 13

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, 
marijuana would be legal. Writing under the pen name Janey Canuck in 
the early 1900s, an Edmonton woman by the name of Emily Murphy first 
warned Canadians about the dreaded reefer and its association with 
dark-skinned minorities. The sensationalist yellow journalism of 
William Randolph Hearst led to marijuana's criminalization in the 
United States. At the time, marijuana use in North America was 
limited to Mexican immigrants and black jazz musicians. Whites did 
not even begin to smoke marijuana until after it was prohibited. 
Almost one hundred years later, Canada leads the industrialized world 
in cannabis consumption. Prohibition has been counterproductive at best.

What started as a racist reaction to Mexican immigration has since 
morphed into an intergenerational culture war, with Canada's southern 
neighbor leading the global charge. The war on some drugs has given 
the (former) Land of the Free the highest incarceration rate in the 
world. There is a good reason millions of people prefer marijuana to 
martinis. Cannabis is easily the least harmful recreational drug 
available, legal or otherwise. Unlike alcohol, the plant has never 
been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the 
addictive properties of tobacco. Medical science tells us that jail 
cells are inappropriate as health interventions. History shows they 
are ineffective as deterrents. It's time for Canada to "Just Say No" 
to the American Inquisition.

Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom