Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2011
Source: Cape Breton Post (CN NS)
Copyright: 2011 Cape Breton Post
Contact:  http://www.capebretonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/777

TIME TO DECRIMINALIZE POT

Fans of the classic Nova Scotia television show "Trailer Park Boys"
likely remember the episode in which "the boys" hijacked Rita
MacNeil's tour bus and forced MacNeil and her entourage into helping
them harvest an outdoor marijuana grow-operation as they broke out in
a spontaneous rendition of "Working Man."

Well, it's coming on harvest time again for an agricultural commodity
that's definitely not promoted by the provincial agricultural
department's "Select Nova Scotia" campaign.

And that means police in Nova Scotia will be again using a helicopter
to scour the province's forests and fields in search of the one-to
two-metre tall deep-green plants with the distinctive leaves composed
of seven jagged fingers.

The province's cops are also encouraging the public to call in if they
stumble across a marijuana grow-op during their late-summer ramblings.

"Community safety is everyone's responsibility and outdoor marijuana
grow operations pose a danger to public health and safety," said RCMP
Sgt. Keith MacKinnon in a recent release.

Grow-ops can be dangerous, say the RCMP, because they can be
booby-trapped and they're often associated with organized crime. The
catch-22 is that they're booby-trapped and tied up with organized
crime because growing marijuana is a criminal act unless one runs a
sanctioned medical marijuana growing operation.

Marijuana possession of a couple of grams, on the other hand, is much
murkier from a police officer's perspective. For instance, in July,
the Chronicle Herald ran a story about a Yarmouth driver who admitted
to RCMP that he had smoked a joint while waiting to get through a
traffic checkpoint. He could have been charged, but the Mounties
decided to let him go after seizing the small amount of pot he had in
his possession.

Police tend not to charge people found to be in possession of small
amounts of marijuana because the onslaught of charges would gum up the
court system. But they can't turn a blind eye to grow-ops because, as
they say, they're potentially dangerous.

The only trouble is, not charging someone for possessing something
that is illegal to produce is not only hypocritical, it's illogical.
The government's position on marijuana is untenable. One option is to
charge anyone caught growing, selling or possessing any amount of pot.
Another option is to decriminalize and regulate the stuff as
recommended by a Senate report back in 2002.

The latter option makes just as much sense today as it did nine years
ago. Marijuana is not innocuous and its recreational use shouldn't be
encouraged by government. But, it is generally less harmful than
alcohol and about 14 per cent of Canadians use it.

And, whether we like it or not, marijuana has become an ingrained
component of Canadian culture. That's been made clear by no less than
Rita MacNeil. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.