Pubdate: Tue, 08 May 2012
Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Brian Marlatt
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Brian Marlatt
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n265/a04.html

BETTER IDEAS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH MARIJUANA

The Editor,

Re: "Prohibition appears to have taught us nothing," the Now, May 3.

Prohibition has taught us nothing? Well maybe. King and Country, a
toast to Canada - or the Stars and Stripes elsewhere - elegant
stemware, crystal cut with platinum and gold, the local pub and pub
culture, a cold one after the game or many during it, a toast to the
bride.

All of this ingrained cultural experience and more ran against the
U.S. 1920s prohibition of alcohol.

So did the legal production, distribution and sale of alcohol, easily
smuggled from elsewhere, including Canada, a pencil-line away.

So, comparisons between marijuana prohibition and the U.S. 1920s
prohibition fall flat.

What is more, because the U.S. will not legalize marijuana, legalizing
it in Canada will create the conditions for illegal supply and
smuggling from a place of legal production, distribution and sale a
pencil line away, just as it fuelled U.S. prohibition era
gangsterism.

A serious problem would be made worse.

Legalization won't save a dime, it will do social harm just as does
alcohol (increasingly so by moving from subculture to cultural
status), and ending unenforceable enforcement still leaves the problem.

So what to do?

Decriminalize simple possession to protect the misguided against
youthful misadventure. Impose serious misdemeanours for possession to
ensure it is understood marijuana use is not endorsed by
decriminalization and will not be accepted in society.

Impose steep financial penalties for possession tied to auto licensing
and access to services to remove the burden of the cost of enforcement
and to free up the courts and to ensure enforcement cannot be escaped.

Ensure that production, sale and distribution of marijuana and
derivatives for other than medical purposes remains illegal and
subject to the full force of the law. Provide that "medical marijuana"
be available legally only through pharmaceutical outlets.

Brian Marlatt,

White Rock
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D