Pubdate: Fri, 20 Apr 2012
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Jesse Kline

DREAMING OF A POT-FRIENDLY WORLD

Imagine if governments around the world decided alcohol causes too
many social and health problems, and outlawed wine. What would happen?

Unlike some products, wine can be produced by individuals or small
groups of people - it has been for thousands of years. It would
therefore be necessary to ban grapes, as well. Those who wanted to
continue growing in regions that are amenable to grape vines -
including B.C., Ontario and California - would have to hide their
vineyards in unpopulated, mountainous regions, where they could be
cloaked in the natural foliage. Others would be forced to grow inside,
consuming vast amounts of power and creating fire and health hazards
that result from unsafe wiring and indoor irrigation.

Business and tourism in B.C.'S Okanagan Valley and the Niagara region
of Ontario would suffer, while the organized criminals who took over
the market would benefit immensely, due to the huge increases in wine
prices that result from its illicit status. Connoisseurs who wanted to
continue enjoying fine wines would have to travel far and wide to find
one of the few countries that still maintains sensible alcohol laws.

To many, this scenario probably seems silly - but it is exactly the
situation we find ourselves in when it comes to how we deal with
marijuana. In his new book, Heart of Dankness, American journalist
Mark Haskell Smith gives us a taste of what life could be like if we
didn't maintain such a strict prohibition on this amazingly useful
plant. Smith divides his time between California and Amsterdam,
talking to people who grow and distribute cannabis in a quasi legal
environment.

The electorate in the Golden State approved a measure to legalize the
use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996. It is
now incredibly easy for Californians to obtain marijuana legally -
even though many people abuse the original spirit of the law. A whole
industry of doctors who prescribe cannabis and dispensaries that
distribute it, has sprung up throughout the state. In 2010, there were
more than 800 dispensaries operating in Los Angeles alone.

Yet cannabis is still illegal on the federal level and the Obama
administration has been even more tough on medical marijuana growers
and dispensaries than its predecessor. Many farmers are forced to hide
their fields and indoor grow operations in the mountains, to protect
their crops from federal intrusion. However, this has not stopped a
vibrant industry from developing world-class strains that appeal to
connoisseurs and needy patients alike.

The Netherlands also has a reputation for being a pot-friendly
country. Under the Dutch model, cannabis can be sold in licensed
"coffeeshops," and although growers still operate in a legal grey
area, the relaxed atmosphere has allowed Dutch botanists to be
incredibly innovative - controlling everything from the flavour, to
the type of high one gets when the plant is consumed. The Dutch model
has successfully separated the markets for cannabis and hard drugs,
and allowed a privately run marijuana industry to flourish. Even
though weed can be obtained legally there, the Netherlands has
maintained a lower rate of cannabis use than the United States.

In his quest to find out how the world's best weed is produced, Smith
shows us an alternate side to the drug trade - one where producers are
artisans and distributors are connoisseurs. This contrasts starkly to
jurisdictions that still maintain a strict prohibition on marijuana.

Canada banned marijuana in 1923, and since that time, we have gone
from having virtually no pot smokers, to the situation today, where
roughly 30% of the population has tried the drug at least once. A 2002
report from the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs found that 2
million adult Canadians had used pot in the past year, but only 0.85%
of users were charged with possession.

Despite these findings, there are still a significant number of
Canadians whose lives are ruined because of relatively minor drug
crimes. In 2007, police reported 62,510 cannabis-related offences.
Many of those caught with pot end up clogging the prison system, and
hundreds of thousands more are left with criminal records - hindering
their financial situation and their ability to get jobs and travel
abroad. This will only get worse now that the Harper government has
passed its omnibus crime bill, which imposes harsh mandatory-minimum
sentences on anyone who grows more than six plants or shares a joint
with a friend.

It doesn't have to be this way. A 2004 Fraser Institute study
estimated the value of B.C.'S cannabis-growing industry at $7-billion
annually (likely a conservative figure); while prohibition costs the
government $2-billion in lost tax revenue in that province alone. That
doesn't count all the profits that are made by organized criminals, or
the public money wasted on law enforcement, courts and prisons.

Treating adults who choose to consume marijuana like criminals causes
more harm than good. Rather than putting wine aficionados in jail, we
afford people the liberty to choose what vino they want to ingest.
Those who enjoy marijuana shouldn't be treated any differently.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D