Pubdate: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 Source: Victoria News (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Victoria News Contact: http://www.vicnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) JUST SAY NO TO EXTRADITION Let's hope the U.S. government's efforts to extradite Marc Emery, Canada's self-professed Prince of Pot, forces our government to legalize and regulate marijuana in the way that alcohol is regulated. The war on pot has been a colossal waste of time, money, energy and lives. Pot has its dangers - such as memory loss and lung disease - but they pale beside the perils of alcohol and tobacco. Adults should be free to choose their own poisons. But let's not be Puritanical here. Booze and pot afford users pleasure and if taken in moderation they do little harm. It can even be argued that they enhance health and smooth out the rough edges of hectic modern life. It would be great if certain segments of the population didn't use these substances to excess. Yet of all the methods to control vices, out-and-out prohibition has proven to be the least effective. It didn't work for alcohol early in the last century and it's not working for pot in this one. Booze prohibition created a marketing vacuum that organized crime filled with deadly effect. The same is happening with Canada's underground pot industry, where the illegal nature of the lucrative trade is turning grow-ops into armed fortresses. Under the law, Marc Emery, who openly sells pot seeds by the millions over the Internet, is a criminal. He's no Al Capone, but the law has made him out to be one. Yet like the rum runners of the 1920s, Emery is a criminal all the same. After prohibition was abolished, the rum runners became respected businessmen, selling a legal and regulated product. Problems with booze still abound, but at least blood isn't spilled over it on the streets of Chicago. The prevailing sentiment in Canada is to legalize and regulate pot so that the trade is removed from the hands of criminals. Pot needs similar controls to alcohol to keep it away from children and people who are driving. It also makes sense to prohibit pot smoking in public places as is the trend with tobacco. All of this makes more sense than the hysterical war of marijuana. If legalizing and controlling pot turns Emery into a legitimate businessman, then so be it. We suspect that the Canadian government has stalled on pot legalization over fears of U.S. government retaliation. For a nation that professes to stand for individual liberty, it's odd it would make such a huge crime out of smoking, possessing and selling a herb that most of its citizens over a certain age have experimented with at least once. Aside from being paternalistic, that's just insane. And legislators on both sides of this border know it. The court can help the Canadian government find the courage to stand up to Uncle Sam by denying the U.S. request to extradite Emery to stand trial. Our courts have blocked efforts to extradite murderers who would face the death penalty. Emery won't be executed, but he faces a long prison sentence that is out of proportion to a crime that shouldn't even exist in the 21st Century. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom