Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 Source: Standard Freeholder (Cornwall, CN ON) Copyright: 2013 Cornwall Standard Freeholder Contact: http://www.standard-freeholder.com/letters Website: http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1169 HIGH HOPES FOR COMMON SENSE DRUG POLICY Finally, a leader of a major political party in this country who can sniff which way the wind is blowing the marijuana smoke. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's stated support this week for legalization of pot is a welcome kickstart to more discussion of drug policy in this country. He's the first federal leader expressing what people in this country believe rather than parroting back the "we have to save the kids" mantra that is always the last resort of those opposed to a sane discussion surrounding the War on Drugs philosophy. Polls consistently show that the number of people in this country who support legalization of marijuana or the lesser step of decriminalization (in other words the people who don't think pot use should be a crime) are the plurality in our society. That almost no politician in a major party dare express the views of Canadians on this issue is telling. They see what happens when a Trudeau says what he does, and then the usual suspects slink forward to bemoan how this would put our kids on the fast track on the road to ruin. But policy that can always get the backing of the 'but we have to save and protect the kids' crowd is a policy that treats all people like infants rather than adults. We are not going to get into the debate of whether you should or shouldn't smoke pot, or take another drug, because frankly we don't think it's any of our business what an adult does and does not do for their own enjoyment and to their own body as long as it does not harm anyone else. The War on Drugs troops will say, but hey, it does hurt others, there's the crime that surrounds the illicit drug industry, and so on and so on. One media story of Trudeau's clearing of the air over marijuana brought up the old chestnut of how many people have been killed in recent years in the War on Drugs in Mexico. The figure 70,000 was cited. Let's be clear what those numbers represent and what environment they occur within. These are the casualties of the policy of prohibition. It is the ultimate result of creating a criminal class because of prohibition, where the profits are huge and the body count is stacked up by those fighting, in a war, for control of drug territory and distribution. Most deaths in the War on Drugs are a result of this, not the result of people ODing or actually taking a drug. The War on Drugs is a losing fight, because at the end of the day, it is really a war on the personal freedom and desires of a country's adult citizens. We know Trudeau's legalization of pot stance is not the beginning of the end of the War on Drugs philosophy. But it is a welcome step to have a more serious debate about drug policy in our society and the philosophy of the criminalization of personal decision making about what one wants or doesn't want to put in their own body. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom