Pubdate: Sat, 19 May 2012 Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC) Copyright: 2012 Nanaimo Daily News Contact: http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608 HERE'S AN IDEA JUST CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK The solution is so simple, we can't believe it hasn't been suggested before: Outlaw cigarettes and legalize pot. While health-care professionals and organizations continue to put the squeeze on the handful of smokers who still exist in the world, we have a call from another segment of society that wants the freedom to spark up a joint without fear of prosecution. Since the medical community has been fairly unanimous on the scourge of tobacco, it seems logical that the only reason it hasn't yet been outlawed is because the government makes too much money from the taxes. If we found out today that drinking milk could cause lung cancer, by tomorrow you couldn't find a jug on a grocery store shelf anywhere. So why do we put up with the death toll of cigarettes? Money, of course. To be fair, there are a lot of restrictions on buying and selling cigarettes. You have to be 18 or 19 (depending on the jurisdiction) to even buy them. If you are of age and decide to buy a pack, you are going to spend the better part of $10 to purchase them, only to set them on fire. If you still go ahead and buy them, they'll have some grotesque photo and a warning label about how they are likely to kill you, slowly but surely. Still want to have that smoke? Good luck finding a place to do it. You can't smoke in public places inside or out in this city; most of your friends likely won't invite you over a second time if you light up; and doing it in the car can get you fined if there happens to be someone under 18 sitting next to you. All of this and you still have the stigma of being a "smoker" if you choose to partake. What if you want to sell cigarettes? There are restrictions on who you can sell them to, how you can advertise them and the events you can promote as a sponsor. It's almost like no one wants your product or your money. Except the government, which gets a big, fat chunk of the $10 charged for each pack. Cigarettes are bad for your health and everyone knows it. (Even if you can't accept that fact, you can at least acknowledge they aren't good.) So let's do away with them. Outlaw them. Banish them and save countless people from dying a painful, wasting death. But what about all that government money? Pot. Legalize, package it and tax it. Don't think we can replace the tobacco tax revenue with marijuana revenue? This will be the most successful new product to hit store shelves since . . . well, since ever. Do you know what people are paying for marijuana these days? Well, of course no one will admit to having that inside knowledge, but per gram, let's just say it's more than tobacco. Quality, availability and the safety of purchasing this product will all improve. Criminal elements will be squeezed out by legitimate producers and their strongmen, the Canadian government. Jails will empty of small-time pot dealers and their customers. Everyone will be happier, mellower and the government will gleefully collect ever-increasing tax revenue, free from the guilt of contributing to a cancer epidemic. Of course, there are still questions about the safety of smoking pot over the long term, it's affect on our brains, our productivity and, don't forget, it's mostly ingested by smoking it. On second thought, legalizing and taxing such a potentially dangerous substance is just crazy. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt