Pubdate: Fri, 02 Dec 2005
Source: Annex Guardian (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Contact:  http://www.insidetoronto.ca/to/annex/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2316
Author: Russell Barth

IT'S TIME TO LOOK AT OUR DRUG STRATEGY

Alcohol prohibition in the last century made heavily armed gangsters
very rich and powerful.

Kids went to school drunk, gun battles erupted on the streets of the
U.S., the police were powerless. Eventually, prohibition was repealed,
alcohol was regulated, the illegal profits disappeared, and the gun
violence ended.

Today, drug prohibition is causing exactly the same kinds of social
ills, corruption, and gun violence.

All of the major parties have the same answer, which is to "get
tough". Just more of the same failed policy rhetoric.

The more we "get tough" and "crack down", the more we subsidize
organized crime.

This isn't an opinion, this is a fact. The competition will become
even more fierce, which means more gun violence, and more danger for
all Canadians.

Why isn't anyone talking sensibly about regulating
marijuana?

Taking marijuana out of the hands of kids and gangsters, and putting
it into the hands of responsible adults is socially
conservative.

Generating $3 billion in annual tax revenue from that regulated
business is fiscally conservative.

Using that tax revenue to educate kids so they will make smart choices
about drugs is morally conservative.

It really is time for a change.

Prohibition has never worked for anything, any time, anywhere in the
world. If prohibition were ever going to work, it would have worked by
now.

Russell Barth

Federal medical marijuana license holder

Former federal

Marijuana Party candidate 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake