Pubdate: Sat, 07 Aug 2010
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2010 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/letters.html
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author: Douglas Quan, Postmedia News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

B.C. BUD'S BILLIONS COULD GO UP IN SMOKE

Underground Economy Could Be Gutted If Californians Vote to Legalize Marijuana

A looming referendum in California on whether to legalize marijuana 
has fuelled a debate among bloggers and pundits over this question: 
Could legalization in the United States cripple the Canadian economy?

In a column on the website of the British newspaper The Guardian, 
B.C. writer Douglas Haddow writes that legalization would be 
"devastating to the Canadian economy, halting the flow of billions of 
dollars from the U.S. into Canada."

B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery -- the self-styled "Prince of Pot" 
who is awaiting sentencing in the U.S. for distributing cannabis 
seeds -- recently told a Vancouver website that "the homegrown market 
will evaporate."

Are they just blowing smoke? Not necessarily, some academics say.

Marijuana production generates at least $3 billion to $4 billion in 
B.C. alone -- due, in large part, to heavy demand from potheads south 
of the border, said Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at the 
University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C.

Plecas estimates that about 70 per cent of all marijuana produced in 
B.C. is sent to the U.S. and much of it goes to California.

"Producers are probably frantically looking where they can ship it to 
besides California," he said.

Eugene Oscapella, a criminology lecturer at the University of Ottawa 
and founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, said 
there is no doubt that if California legalizes marijuana, producers 
there will be able to sell the product more cheaply -- thus making it 
difficult for producers here to compete and driving some out of business.

"Increased availability for a lesser price in that country will have 
an effect on suppliers in Canada," he said.

Of particular concern, he said, are the mom-and-pop producers in 
rural parts of B.C. who turned to marijuana as a way to make ends 
meet after the forest industry declined.

Other observers, however, are more circumspect about how crippling 
legalization would be for Canadian producers, pointing out that "B. 
C. Bud" still enjoys a reputation in many circles as "the 
Rolls-Royce" of marijuana and that there are many other U.S. states 
- -- besides California -- that covet Canadiangrown marijuana.

Mexico, which exports far more pot to California than Canada, would 
probably be hit harder, they say.

Even as the Canadian dollar has appreciated -- making Canadian-grown 
marijuana much more expensive for Americans to buy -- the industry 
has continued to thrive, said Stephen Easton, a professor of 
economics at Simon Fraser University in B.C. and a senior fellow at 
the Fraser Institute.

"It's a very resilient industry and very adaptive," he said.

Chuck Doucette, a retired RCMP staff sergeant who specialized in drug 
enforcement, adds the black-market exchange of Canadian marijuana for 
U.S. cash and cocaine is so "thoroughly entrenched" that it is 
unlikely that those lines will disappear overnight.

The California marijuana initiative is headed to a vote in November. 
Even if it passes, it is likely that it will go through a series of 
court challenges, experts say.

An Angus Reid poll earlier this year showed that 53 per cent of 
Canadians favour legalizing marijuana -- regulating and taxing it 
like alcohol and tobacco. Supporters of legalization say they hope 
passage of the initiative in California will create a domino effect 
that leads to more lax pot laws in other parts of the U.S. and in Canada.

In addition to raising huge amounts of tax revenue, legalization 
would undercut organized crime groups and free police resources to 
tackle more serious crimes, they say.

Marijuana and cocaine are consistently reported to be the illicit 
drugs most frequently trafficked by organized crime groups, according 
to annual RCMP reports assessing the drug situation in Canada.

But opponents of legalization say widespread use of marijuana could 
lead to use of more dangerous drugs, worsen addiction problems and 
send mixed messages to young people about drug use.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has 
repeatedly said it has no intention of decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom