Pubdate: Sun, 21 Jul 2002
Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Surrey Leader
Contact:  http://www.surreyleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236
Author: David Marsh
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

$1 BILLION, THE EASY WAY

You could call it a bold leap into the 1960s. Except it's only a trial balloon.

Canadian Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has mused publicly about relaxing 
the country's marijuana prohibition. The drug must remain illegal, but 
simple possession might be considered a non-criminal offence punishable by 
fines rather than jail, he said.

Cauchon even admitted smoking a joint or two in his younger days, without 
even a Clintonesque 'I didn't inhale' disclaimer thrown in.

Brave words perhaps, but it's only because Britain decided a week earlier 
that it would relax its possession laws that the Canadian government 
suddenly gets bold on the issue. That, and the fact that parliamentary 
committees in Ottawa are soon to release reports expected to recommend 
decriminalization.

So, up goes the trial balloon. Media, interest groups and the public are 
gauged for reaction. And if the winds aren't too gusty, the bid could take 
off as soon as this fall.

Well, hallelujah. But then there's that report by the B.C. Business Council 
released just a day or two after Cauchon's remarks.

This study estimates that at least $20 billion is conducted in underground 
business, legal and illegal, every year in this province.

Let's assume, very conservatively, that $2 billion of that is the trade of 
marijuana. And suppose that governments slapped a 50 per cent sin-tax on it
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager