Pubdate: Tue, 19 Aug 2014
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Page: 6

HARPER'S SMOKY FEAR

On the marijuana file, the Conservatives should be careful of
blowback.

It's all fun and games to try to paint Liberal leader Justin Trudeau
as Marc Emery's best friend but there is risk for the Conservatives in
overreacting (why isn't Harper focusing on the economy?) and in
alienating the more libertarian arm of his own party (who cares if the
neighbour smokes a little weed to help him sleep at night as long as
it's not in front of my kids?).

So far, however, the Conservative reaction is to tighten their ties
another couple of notches and borrow the worst overheated rhetoric
from the prohibition era.

The Prime Minister's Office trotted out poor Steven Blaney, the
federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, to sound
positively 19th century in his reaction to Emery's return to Canada
and Trudeau's willingness to modernize Canada's pot laws.

"While the Liberals would try to make it easier for our children to
access marijuana, Canadians can count on our government to put forward
policies that keep drugs off our streets and keep our families safe,"
Blaney said.

The only people who believe Trudeau is trying to put pot in the hands
of kids are the Conservatives, because it serves their political
purposes to say so, not because it's true. Trudeau sees what several
American states have done with decriminalizing or legalizing
marijuana, as well as the law enforcement cost savings and the
negative impact it could have on a lucrative revenue stream for
organized crime. Furthermore, Trudeau is listening to Canada's police
chiefs, who came out last year in favour of a ticket for a small
amount of pot for personal use, rather than filing formal criminal
charges.

On the surface, it appears Emery's encouragement for his supporters to
vote Liberal next fall, as well as his wife Jodie's plan to run as a
Liberal candidate, is a potential embarrassment for Trudeau. After
all, Trudeau is trying to demonstrate to Canadians that he's fit and
ready to govern on all of the important issues, instead of being just
a cool dude who thinks it's never too early for 4:20.

Certainly the Conservatives want Canadians to think so and it's easy
to hear the strident campaign slogans they'll trot out next fall that
the Liberals are the party of convicted felons and that Trudeau would
spark up a doobie in the West Block after Question Period if he were
elected Prime Minister.

Canadians might not be so accepting of that over-the-top reaction,
particularly when they learn that Emery was sentenced to five years in
a U.S. prison for the ghastly crime of selling marijuana seeds to
American customers. Voters want cops and prosecutors sending killers,
violent offenders, gang members, pedophiles and corporate crooks to
prison. That's a better use of their time and a better use of prisons
than to house a guy who dared police to arrest him for selling seeds
so people could grow their own pot. That isn't necessarily what many
people think of when they think of responsible government, which is
the core Conservative argument for why they, and not Trudeau or Tom
Mulcair's NDP, should continue to rule.

The strident stance by the Conservatives on marijuana use exposes a
potential Achilles heel for Mulcair and Trudeau to strike in the next
election. It's not pot that keeps Stephen Harper and social
conservatives fretting at night, it's the increasing legal recognition
of individual rights. Look closer at Blaney's statement, no doubt
written by a member of Harper's office. What it's really saying is
that all individual rights should be second to the right of families
to be safe, ignoring the possibility that pot smokers and safe
families can exist under the same roof.

Social conservatives see the rise of the Marc Emerys of the world as a
sign of increasing anarchy and flagrant disrespect of traditional
morals. His supporters think it's no concern of the government if
there is lighting up in the bedrooms of the nation, to paraphrase a
previous Trudeau.

A growing number of residents, including police chiefs, are seeing how
harmless Emery and his views are.

By demonizing both him and Trudeau, however, the Conservatives could
learn the hard way that when you blow smoke, sometimes it gets in your
eyes.
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MAP posted-by: Matt