Pubdate: Tue, 12 May 2009
Source: Barrie Examiner (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009, Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2317
Author: Mindelle Jacobs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

IS THE U. S. HIGH ON LEGALIZING POT?

Canada has been terrified of liberalizing our drug laws  for fear of 
angering Uncle Sam. But ironically, the  United States is now closer 
to legalizing pot than we  are.

While the federal Conservatives in the Great White  North are poised 
to bring in mandatory jail time for  producing and selling illicit 
drugs, the sweet smell of  drug reform is wafting across America.

Wouldn't that be a weird buzz? Canada as the uptight,  anti-pot 
zealot and America as the laid-back, rational  progressive.

In some states, the simple possession of marijuana has  been 
effectively decriminalized (although more than  800,000 Americans 
were still arrested for pot  possession last year). And in Alaska, 
possession of a  small amount of weed in your own home is legal.

Thirteen states allow the use of marijuana for medical  purposes. And 
a California legislator has introduced a  bill to legalize the adult 
use of pot. He proposes a  $50-an-ounce tax which would bring in an 
estimated $1.3  billion for the state, which has a staggering 
multibillion-dollar deficit.

Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  acknowledged that 
it's time to debate whether to  legalize and tax marijuana.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Conservatives' proposed  amendments include 
a mandatory six-month jail sentence  for growing even one pot plant 
for the purpose of  trafficking.

And our medical pot regulations are so complex --  thanks to the 
constant tug of war between the  government and the courts over how 
the scheme should be  run -- that no one really has a clue how it's 
supposed  to work.

It's enough to make you want to head to the rec room to  partake in 
the consciousness-altering substance of your  choice.

A number of factors have converged to prompt the U. S.  to seriously 
consider drug reform, says Bruce Mirken,  of the U. S. Marijuana 
Policy Project, which advocates  the legalization and regulation of pot.

Mainstream figures in politics and the media are  talking about it, 
polls support legalized pot and  there's an increasing realization 
that Americans' taste  for drugs is fuelling the ultra-violent drug 
cartels in  Mexico.

More than half of Americans surveyed in a recent poll  commissioned 
by the conservative O'Leary Report, for  instance, support legal pot.

"This is an issue where, all along, the public has been  two or three 
steps ahead of the politicians," says  Mirken. "The public will 
basically drag the politicians  kicking and screaming into the 21st century."

The February photo of Olympic swimming dynamo Michael  Phelps 
inhaling from a bong pretty much drew a  "collective shrug" from 
Americans and Kellogg's  attracted more heat over the issue than 
Phelps because  the company dropped his endorsement deal, adds Mirken.

All in all, polling has shown pronounced shifts in  public attitudes, 
he says. "Everybody is up to their  eyeballs in budget deficits and 
there's this  realization that there's an enormous industry out there 
that pays no taxes because we've indulged in the  fantasy that we can 
just make it go away."

It's possible, he figures, that marijuana could be  legal in the U. 
S. within a few years. "We may be near  a . . . tipping point where 
marijuana prohibition is a  bit like the Soviet Empire circa 1987-88," he says.

"It was actually rotting from inside and it didn't take  very much 
for the whole structure to collapse."

Americans seem to be finally admitting the futility of  demonizing pot.

Canadians?

We await saner politicians.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom