Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2004 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Russell Barth WE NEED REAL POT REFORM Maybe with a Liberal-NDP coalition in this minority government, we can finally get some serious marijuana-law reform in this country. Members of the Bloc Quebecois would likely help, too. The NDP could force the Liberals to revamp their ridiculous decriminalization legislation which is actually alternative-punishment legislation. We would get a sensible drug policy, not just more of the same with a different name. This is a tremendous opportunity for Canada to stop spending nearly $2 billion a year on a completely failed drug policy. We can stop clogging our courts with tens of thousands of drug cases every year. We can use our jails for real criminals like child-porn peddlers, rapists and killers instead of pot-smokers. We can get our police to fight actual criminals instead of gardeners growing marijuana. Through legalization, we would generate $2 billion a year in tax revenue in an environment of regulation. We could settle the medical-marijuana issue once and for all so Canada's 400,000 medical users will no longer have to live in fear and danger, or jump through hoops for ridiculous "licences" under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR). One little piece of legislation, and we suddenly take billions of dollars away from organized crime and put it into health care, education, affordable housing and our military. Whether one is a pot user or not, marijuana legalization is the only sensible policy. Russell Barth Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin