Pubdate: 10 Sep 2015
Source: Huntsville Forester, The (CN ON)
Contact:  2015 The Huntsville Forester
Website: http://www.huntsvilleforester.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2430

LEGALIZATION MAKES ECONOMIC SENSE

The cost of prohibition is prohibitive. Abuse of drugs, whether they 
be cigarettes, alcohol or marijuana, is a health issue in our country.

This is a matter of concern for all Muskokans, and in our (admittedly 
unscientific) poll 62 per cent advocated for legalization of 
marijuana. And when we asked community members their opinion they 
were also for legalization.

Certainly there are social problems that go along with the abuse of 
any drug, whether it's vodka or marijuana, but criminalizing the huge 
number of Canadians who want to smoke some herb doesn't help solve 
those problems. Making headway with drug abuse will only happen when 
it's treated as a health issue, rather than a legal one.

And social policy aside, this is a financial issue. It's not just a 
moral issue, it's a matter of dollars and cents.

As Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare tells us, it's a fairy tale to 
imagine that we will have the same level of health-care services in 
the future - we all know we're going to a one-hospital model that no 
one seems happy about.

The number of people requiring help from our food banks continues to 
increase, our municipality struggles to make due with significantly 
fewer funds from the province and the cost of policing has 
skyrocketed, infrastructure is crumbling and the economy has tanked. 
Something's got to give.

Here's a suggestion. Stop wasting billions of dollars trying to 
enforce unenforceable and inconsistent laws, face the reality that 
otherwise law-abiding taxpayers are going to smoke pot, and turn that 
into a money-making industry for the province.

If the LCBO can bring $1.2 billion each and every year into the 
province's coffers while it urges us to drink responsibly, why can't 
a marijuana control board of Ontario encourage adults to do the same 
with weed? And instead of wasting fortunes on law enforcement and 
criminalizing 1.2 million Canadians, why don't we control the 
substance and use the profits to strengthen our approach to health issues?

This election may decide the matter but if it doesn't maybe it's time 
to take this issue out of the hands of party politics and give it to 
the people. A referendum is costly, but in the long run legalization 
could save us billions while regulation of marijuana sales would take 
money out of the hands of criminals and direct it into our economy.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom