Pubdate: Sat, 21 Nov 2015
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2015 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Page: A14

PASS THE GOVERNMENT GRASS

IT didn't take long for the Selinger government to smell the "charm" 
of legalized marijuana. The potential windfall from a liberalized era 
of lighting up is perfectly intoxicating. Prime Minister Justin 
Trudeau has promised legalized pot will hit the streets soon enough, 
and there's going to be tax revenue in that.

That's why pot got special mention in Premier Greg Selinger's throne 
speech, noting Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries is perfectly positioned 
to act as the middle man in the marijuana trade. Mr. Selinger warns 
pot is highly addictive and therefore too risky to put in the hands 
of the private sector. So, he made clear liquor marts alone will be 
both buyer and seller of marijuana.

This is no big surprise. The NDP government, after all, can barely 
bring itself to cede the smallest of market share to private wine and 
beer sales. That puts Manitoba ice ages behind other countries and 
even other provinces, where grown-ups are treated like adults. The 
sale of weed is likely to be confined to government shops. Windows 
barred, hours curbed and staff unionized.

Nanny-statism aside, this is not about saving people from their dark 
side. No, regulating, distributing and selling vice is big business 
for a state monopoly. (Controlling access to alcohol, for example, 
returns more than just tax revenue as the markup on products fattens 
the province's bottom line.)

After MLL, which also operates gambling halls, pays its costs, pretty 
much all of what it clears each year flows directly into the 
provincial treasury. Last year, that was worth $601 million. Tobacco, 
the perennial go-to for tax hikes, still drops more than $250 million 
into the coffers despite the fact retailers are forbidden to display 
the perfectly legal product.

But the returns on cigarettes are falling, year after year. Enter 
pot. In Colorado, pot excise and sales taxes dropped $76 million into 
the state treasury last year, and they're still figuring out what to 
do with it all - state fairs, bully-prevention programs in schools, 
maybe tax refunds. Marijuana sales there, as with other liberalized 
states and countries, are left to the private sector.

It's enough to warm the cool, calculating palms of bean counters on 
Broadway, who are pushing numbers around to figure out how to pay for 
the next round of money from that seniors' school tax rebate in 2016. 
Extol the virtues of weed for insomnia? Arthritis sufferers swear by 
it for pain relief. Just sayin'.

It may be hard to envision the government's spin on that marketing 
meme - joints for joints! - any time soon, but Mr. Selinger made it 
clear the provincial government wants to talk about the marijuana 
business plan with Mr. Trudeau. The province has assured its interest 
is in keeping the regulated drug out of the hands of the young and 
firmly in the control of government-knows-best.

Smell a smoke screen? The fact is there is no good reason why pot, or 
alcohol, should be retailed by a Crown corporation. (Tobacco isn't, 
and it is at least as big, if not a bigger, public health issue.) 
Yes, pot - like tobacco and alcohol - can be addictive, which is why 
it is a regulated substance, and it can impair the ability to drive. 
But, in a modern democratic society, adults are trusted to act like 
adults, or suffer the penalties when rules, regulations and laws are broken.

Mr. Selinger's real worry is that privatizing the booze and pot 
cash-cows would see coveted revenue slip out of the hands of the 
state, into the marketplace.

Can't have that. Pass the government grass.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom