Pubdate: Wed, 07 Dec 2011
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Brian Hutchinson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

THE PUSH FOR LEGALIZED POT JUST DOPEY

What is it about Vancouver and its determination to make pot smoking 
a regular activity, like drinking coffee? This is a city where 
construction workers are occasionally seen standing in circles, 
sharing a morning toke. Nothing like getting ripped before setting to 
work on a dangerous building site. Such as the one two blocks from 
the office tower where I work. But hey, it's just grass.

Just ask the four former Vancouver mayors who waded into matters well 
beyond any local jurisdiction, penning an open letter last month that 
demanded the end of marijuana prohibition in Canada.

The four describe the prohibition as a failed policy, which is fair, 
but they don't stop there. "Politicians of all stripes - not just at 
the federal level - must respond before further damage is done to our 
B.C. communities," declared Mike Harcourt, Philip Owen, Larry 
Campbell and Sam Sullivan.

What damage, one must ask? The mayors weren't talking about physical 
and mental health, which would seem paramount; in their letter, they 
gave it barely a mention. They know as well as anyone that pot 
advocates are reluctant to admit the plain truth when defending their 
right to harm themselves and to encourage others to follow. The facts 
are: Cannabis products are laden with harmful chemicals; marijuana 
smoke contains carcinogens and damages respiratory systems; 
consumption impairs cognitive functions, especially among youth, who 
are susceptible to more serious psychological and physiological 
effects than adults.

Whatever. Last week, sitting Mayor Gregor Robertson chipped in with a 
tweet: "Good to see 4 Vancouver ex-mayors calling for end of cannabis 
prohibition. I agree, we need to be smart and tax/ regulate."

Tax and regulate. It's the proposed panacea to a "massive illegal 
market" that "drives violence in communities throughout our 
province," according to the four former mayors. To be sure, the 
marijuana trade is widespread and growing, not just in B.C. but 
across Canada. It attracts organized crime, just as the prohibition 
of alcohol early in the last century did. It also attracts 
mom-and-pop growers who supply their neighbours and friends.

A key flaw in the legalization and regulation argument, what 
proponents such as the four ex-mayors and Mr. Robertson ignore, is 
the assumption that underground markets would just disappear. In 
fact, they would continue to thrive. Pot smokers would search for 
tax-free products, just as they do cigarettes, and they would find 
them quite easily. Many, if not most, would choose potency and price 
over purity, which is how such markets always work.

"A regulated market would enable governments to improve community 
health and safety," the ex-mayors claim. No explanation given. And 
how, exactly, would regulation proceed? Let's assume that like 
alcohol, marijuana would be grown by licensed suppliers, to be 
packaged and sold in government-run shops. What profits would a 
tightly controlled, union-staffed, government retail monopoly 
actually produce? Would governments promote marijuana use, the way 
they promote liquor and gambling? How long before lobbyists push for 
retail privatization?

What about long-term health and productivity effects? Have those been 
punched into any cost-benefit analysis? We should assume that under 
legalization, cannabis consumption would increase among adults as 
well as youth. So would rates of work-related intoxication, and 
certainly impaired driving. This raises another question: Should 
legal consumption limits be enforced? Would a bus driver be free to 
smoke a joint - or three, or five - before or during his shift? How 
could anyone detect if he had?

Marijuana and other cannabis products aren't going away. Neither is 
organized crime, nor small grow-ops. But blithely passing off that 
society would benefit from state-sanctioned cannabis products is just 
irresponsible. The group of four - and Mayor Robertson - would do 
better to remind people of proven dangers associated with the 
consumption of pot.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom