Pubdate: Sat, 01 Apr 2017
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2017 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Page: A14

LIBERALS SEEM LOST EVEN WHEN IN THE RIGHT

Earlier this week, the Liberals took steps to reassure worried voters
that they still intend to follow through on their oft-made promise to
legalize marijuana. There's not much meat on the policy bones yet, and
trying to read the tea leaves - tea, we stress - of past Liberal
positions doesn't help clarify things much. The Liberal message seems
to be that marijuana is a horrible, terrible, very bad, no-good thing
that we must legalize to protect our children, and that the Prime
Minister has occasionally himself enjoyed to no apparent ill effect.
Everyone clear on that? Nonetheless, the Liberals did make one firm
statement: marijuana would be legalized in Canada on or before July 1,
2018. And unlike their promise to get rid of our first-past-the-
post electoral system by the next election, they're apparently serious.

Surprisingly (even to ourselves) we believe them. We welcome this
pledge and hope they stick the landing this time. Marijuana
legalization is not nearly as complicated as electoral reform, and it
also has the advantage of much broader popular support and much better
arguments in favour. It's an idea whose time came long ago - but
better late than never.

Still, we can't help but roll our eyes at the process, such as it is.
This was one of the Liberals' core promises. Justin Trudeau was
promising it to adoring young crowds back when he led a third-place
party and the idea of a Liberal return to power was remote, at best.
But a year and a half after the election, we know little of their
plans to legalize marijuana except that they plan to ... legalize
marijuana. A government that talks of seeking a more co-operative
relationship with the provincial governments has left them in the
lurch, unable or unwilling to provide much sense of its direction,
even though much of the day-to-day work of a legalized and regulated
marijuana regime will fall to the provinces.

And most baffling of all, a government that insists in its party
platform that a key reason for legalization is that "too many
Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of
the drug" seems utterly unconcerned that many Canadians continue to
face arrest and prosecution for possessing small amounts of the drug.
They seem to not realize that they actually have the power to change
this.

While working to establish a full legalization plan, the Liberals
could solve many problems virtually at the stroke of a pen by simply
decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. ( They could
copy and paste the decriminalization laws introduced but never passed
under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, for example.) It would be an
inelegant and imperfect and temporary solution, but it would have the
virtue of speed. The NDP have been calling for it, and the Liberals
have a majority in the House of Commons anyway. The Senate is rather
more unpredictable these days than we're used to, but it seems
unlikely it would block a simple and short-term expedient measure
intended to resolve ambiguities that the impending-but-not-yet-
enacted legalization plan has created.

Consider the recent headline-grabbing raids in various cities on
Cannabis Culture dispensaries, which until recently were owned by
legalization crusaders Marc and Jodie Emery. The Emerys can be hard to
root for, given their habit of flouting the law and daring the police
to act, then acting utterly stunned when the police do just that.

Still, it's hard to read or watch recent news coverage of officers
raiding shops and arresting employees, when the federal government has
pledged to make legal the offence they are arrested for go away in
little over a year, and think it's a good use of police resources.

Given the chronic delays in our horrifically backlogged justice
system, it's almost certain the crime will be off the book before any
of these cases can even be tried.

And indeed, those delays and backlogs are one of the main arguments
made in favour of legalization: it would free up police and court
resources otherwise occupied with repeatedly arresting and trying
teenagers and the odd mostly harmless activist.

So, yes, it's a good thing the Liberals are doubling down on this
promise, instead of backing away. And yes, we feel they are actually
on the right side of this issue. But it's about time they acted like
they knew what they were doing - let's see the bill and debate it -
and had listened to enough of their own talking points to appreciate
that immediate decriminalization is both pragmatic and t he right
thing to do.

Even by the standard of this prematurely aged government, that's not
too much to ask.
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MAP posted-by: Matt