Pubdate: Fri, 22 Aug 2014
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Page: B5
Copyright: 2014 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361
Author: Peter O'Neil
Referenced: Child well-being in rich countries - A comparative overview, See
pages 50-51: http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc11_eng.pdf

CANADA'S POT CHALLENGE: KEEPING KIDS SAFE

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are warning
Canadians Justin Trudeau wants to make weed "more accessible to kids"
by displaying and selling it in neighbourhood stores.

Nonsense, the Liberal leader replies. Canadian youth already have easy
access to the prohibited substance despite the Conservatives'
hard-line approach to drugs. A regulated regime that legalizes
cannabis, the Liberals claim, will actually make access tougher.

"We are failing to protect our kids from the effects of marijuana,"
Trudeau said.

The debate, a textbook wedge issue sure to polarize voters during the
2015 election, appears to be resting on a simple question: How would
legalization affect Canada's youth consumption rate, already the
highest in the western world?

There's no simple answer, say experts, because if a future Liberal
government fulfils Trudeau's highest profile promise, Canada will be
doing something no western developed country has ever dared try.

So while both experts and advocates for and against prohibition speak
with certainty about what they expect will happen, there's no model on
which to base conclusions that back up either Conservative or Liberal
claims.

But the reality is even the best system can't remove the likely role
played by organized crime in continuing to supply cheaper black-market
product to youth, said Rebecca Jesseman, a policy analyst with the
Health Canada funded Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

Stanford University law professor Rob MacCoun suspects the Liberal
proposal will lead to increased youth consumption, though he also
agrees his views amount to informed speculation.

"We're really in uncharted territory," said MacCoun, author of several
academic studies assessing the effect of liberalized marijuana laws in
jurisdictions like the Netherlands and several U.S. states.

"If Canada is somehow able to thread the needle and restrict
availability, ban advertising and somehow keep prices from falling,
then I think it could have an experience more like what we are seeing
in the Netherlands - modest levels of use not unlike their
neighbours."

While there are plenty of unknowns about the Liberal plan, what is
clear is that the poll-leading party has made clear it wants to not
just decriminalize but legalize and regulate the industry.

That goes much further than the New Democratic Party, which favours
decriminalization of possession of small amounts of pot, and the
Conservatives, who are considering a ticketing and fine system for
possession but oppose legalization or decriminalization.

It's a huge difference, because legalization represents a government
attempt to scoop through the tax system the bulk of the huge profits
that now flow to organized crime groups like the Hells Angels.

The Netherlands is perhaps the best-known example of a liberalized
regime - it has regulated retail sales of small amounts since the
1970s. But trafficking remains illegal and police action against
organized crime, as well as other restrictions imposed on the
country's famous coffee houses, have kept prices high.

Colorado and Washington states in the U.S. have both recently
legalized cannabis, as has Uruguay. But experts say it's far too early
to determine the effect.

Neither U.S. state will necessarily be the model Canada would be
expected to follow, since both are allowing advertising and marketing
- - factors influencing use. As well, prices are expected to go down
sharply as companies overcome startup costs, said MacCoun.

Liberal deputy leader Ralph Goodale, in a Wednesday interview,
ridiculed the Conservative allegation Trudeau wants to make pot more
easily available to kids. But he said the exact details of his party's
proposal won't be made public until the election platform is released.

What is clear, according to Goodale, is the Conservatives' talk about
keeping pot out of kids' hands is belied by the statistics.

One UNICEF study said Canada's youth consumption rate was highest
among a selection of developed countries in 2001-02 and in 2009-10.

MacCoun, who strongly endorses decriminalization but says he's
"agnostic" on legalization, said the biggest problem with the Liberal
proposal is the difficulty in keeping the price from falling sharply.

His studies have suggested that, post-legalization, the cost of an
ounce of weed could plunge more than 80 per cent. That's because of
the considerable cost criminals face in producing and trafficking
large amounts of an illegal substance.

"When you take that away, you're left with a weed that just doesn't
cost that much to produce."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D