Pubdate: Wed, 16 Sep 2015
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Steve Burgess
Page: 4

Deal with the issue on a national level so cannabis products can
become a properly regulated industry

Time to bridge Canada's pot divide

I once got busted for pot when I wasn't even there. I had left a used
hash pipe at a friend's place. His apartment got raided and he
promptly ratted me out. Which was perfectly understandable - he had a
record and might actually have gone to jail if he had claimed it.

As a juvenile (so very, very long ago), I faced no such penalty. In
fact, the judge assigned to my case - a man named Rodney Mykle, now on
the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench - sentenced me to write a 10-page
essay on the pros and cons of marijuana.

"Just report whatever you find out," he said.

I turned in a report that recommended legalization. I learned a lot
(including the fact that there are some wise judges in this country).
I've long since stopped smoking pot - it ceased to be a pleasant
experience - and today I harbour no romantic notions about cannabis
and its effects.

While it will never approach alcohol in its destructive effects on
society, neither do I think of it as harmless. (The annual 4/20 rally
at the art gallery is supposed to be a celebration of pot use, but for
anybody who isn't stoned, walking around that scene can be a
profoundly depressing experience).

Still, the criminalization of marijuana has caused infinitely more
problems than its use.

But where are we now? The current state of affairs serves no
one.

Vancouver has attempted to license and regulate pot dispensaries, but
last week Health Canada warned it plans a crackdown. With the
proliferation of medical marijuana outlets in Vancouver, you'd think
the stuff cured cancer, the common cold, and halitosis.

Who is running these stores?

As long as pot remains illegal, those who sell it are still more
likely to be connected with criminal networks. I believe Canada needs
to move toward full legalization. But a creeping legalization that
pits levels of government and law enforcement against each other can
never work. Only when we deal with the issue on a national level can
cannabis products become a properly regulated industry.

The issue should be a priority.

Steve Burgess is a Vancouver-based writer and author of the novel Who 
Killed Mom?
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MAP posted-by: Matt