Pubdate: Mon, 19 Nov 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Rob Brandreth-Gibbs
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n587/a03.html

LET OTHERS PIONEER POT LIBERALIZATION FIRST

Re: Decriminalization of pot in Canada is a sensible idea whose time has 
come, Barbara Yaffe column, Nov. 15,

Another sensible idea would first let Washington and Colorado's
recreational drug experience answer some critical questions before we
commit ourselves to legal pot.

Will displaced pot traffickers be forced to push more potent designer
drugs? Will cannabis tourism overwhelm as it has in Amsterdam? Will the
market prefer high-THC pot over the government-sanctioned version? Will
pot's scientifically known toxicity to DNA, bodies and minds actually
prove to be significantly harmful to the public? Will the streets
register increased deaths and injury due to marijuana inebriation?

Will more kids be induced to smoke? Will legalization force more
contact with second-hand smoke? Will legalized marijuana sell for
a lower price than its usual street price causing an increase in
use? Will black-market pot sell for an even lower tax-free price
causing a further increase in use? Will increased use result in
higher justice and health costs?

Will the social costs be greater than the marijuana tax revenue 
generated as it has for legal alcohol and tobacco? Will the cost
of education and treatment programs be greater than the present cost
of drug-related law enforcement as it has in the U.S.? Will drug
violence overshadow death and debilitation from smoking? Perhaps
"no" to all these questions.

But we can let those American states pioneer this recreational drug
experiment at their own social, health, legal and monetary expense
before we embark on a similar course that surely has no return. And we
can watch very closely.

Our federal government has more than illicit marijuana industry profit
margins and its associated violence to consider. It has a
responsibility to the health and welfare of ordinary Canadian citizens
and families as well. In other words, all those things above that
self-proclaimed "Sensible People" would rather not, and never do,
talk about.

Rob Brandreth-Gibbs

North Vancouver
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt