Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2013 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 LEGALIZING DRUGS DESERVES DEBATE Although it is an idea that has percolated for decades and has grown in acceptance even in the traditionally conservative United States of late, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau appears to have kicked over a can of worms with his apparently off-the-cuff call for legalizing marijuana. Mr. Trudeau's declaration to a crowd in Kelowna last month that his thinking has evolved from one of supporting decriminalization to legalization, regulation and taxation of the drug may have been a cynical attempt to tap into potential young voters who almost overwhelmingly support more liberal drug laws. But his position is neither radical nor unique - it reflects a growing global movement to shift from the decade-old, failed war on drugs to more pragmatic and less harmful strategies. The depth of that changing tide was made clear in November when two American states, Colorado and Washington, voted to legalize marijuana. This summer Vermont became the 17th American state to decriminalize the possession of non-medical marijuana. Canada, which has traditionally seen itself as more progressive than its American cousins on social issues such as universal public health care and legalized gay marriage, is now woefully behind the pack when it comes to the treatment of narcotics. And it's not just in the United States where Canada is trailing. The presidents of Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and Colombia have all called for a new, more liberal approach to drugs while last month Uruguay's senate passed legislation that will create a government body to regulate the sale and public smoking of marijuana for nationals. Uruguay took these steps, by the way, even though polls have indicated overwhelming opposition to the move. It was part of a trifecta of liberalizing laws, including recently allowing women greater say in when to terminate their pregnancies and permitting gays and lesbians to legally marry. The move for liberalization in Latin America is seen as a rejection of the decades of violence and crime imposed on the region by drug consumption and wars initiated in the north. There has been an international prohibition on drugs for a century, beginning with the opium conferences in The Hague and continuing through the United Nations' convention on narcotics passed in the early 1960s. But the battle only really turned into a world war with former president Richard Nixon's 1971 declaration that drug abuse had become America's No. 1 enemy. Since then, an estimated $1 trillion has been spent fighting the war, which has evolved into a $500-billion-a-year industry. Thousands have died - including an estimated 60,000 over the last five years in Mexico alone - tens of thousands have been arrested worldwide and the profits from the industry have been used to support international criminal organizations, brutal dictatorships and terrorist groups. Canada has of late stepped up its investment in the losing cause, increasing arrests, strengthening sentences and offering to send warships for drug interdiction to Central America. These are stakes that are too great to warrant simply a tossed out admission of slowly evolving conversion. One hopes Mr. Trudeau's comments can be turned to a rational, national debate. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom