Pubdate: Thu, 18 May 2006
Source: View Magazine (Hamilton, CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 View Magazine
Contact:  http://www.viewmag.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2393
Author: Paul Bobier
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

LIVING THE HIGH LIFE

The media's coverage of the marijuana industry seems limited to 
reports of police raids on grow-ops. Ian Mulgrew, legal affairs 
columnist for the Vancouver Sun, has provided a bigger picture of 
what's involved in his book, Bud Inc. It describes the marijuana 
trade from grower to user, with geographical emphasis on BC.

Mulgrew makes very clear his personal bias for the legalization of 
marijuana, while noting the law in Canada still makes possession a 
criminal offence. He uses the old argument that prohibition against 
alcohol in the early 1900s did little to reduce public demand for 
booze, while directing profits to criminals. Now that alcohol 
consumption has been legalized for decades, governments reap tax 
revenue, and the public benefits from standardized product quality. 
Mulgrew feels the legalization (not just decriminalization) of 
marijuana could lead to the same scenario. In addition, the Canadian 
government would save a few hundred million dollars every year from 
lower law enforcement costs.

In late 2003, Canada's Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional for 
the federal government to make marijuana possession a criminal 
offence. It also said that if marijuana law is to be altered, it 
should be done through Parliament, by changes in legislation. Ottawa 
has exempted several hundred users of marijuana from prosecution, 
because of medical conditions that justify marijuana use, and has 
issued them Health Canada cards. Health Canada also licences some 
growers to produce and supply users with this medical marijuana. The 
purpose isn't recreational, but to reduce pain and other negative 
effects of serious illness.

However, Canada's medical marijuana program got off to a rough start 
in both the quality and supply areas, and medical doctors, needed to 
recommend patients for the program, were reluctant to become involved.

"The Canadian Medical Protective Association and the Canadian Medical 
Association told doctors not to participate because of potential 
legal liability. They argued doctors should not be the gatekeepers to 
the use of marijuana because there had been none of the usual testing 
for dosage and quality that drugs usually undergo before public 
release," writes Mulgrew. "They also maintained there was no solid 
evidence, only anecdotal support, for marijuana's effectiveness and 
scant data as to its medicinal qualities. They feared future lawsuits 
from patients if pot proved to have unexpectedly pernicious side 
effects, such as occurred with tobacco."

South of the border, the US government opposes medical marijuana use, 
as part of its war on drugs. It's ironic that American federal law 
enforcement officers can arrest and prosecute a patient for pot use, 
even if living in a state that had legalized its use for medical 
purposes. The US government continues to press governments of other 
nations (including Canada) to make marijuana production and 
consumption illegal, because what's produced in other nations can be 
smuggled or exported to America. Mulgrew includes some information 
from a university economist, who claims BC, the leading marijuana 
producing province in Canada, exported 1,433 tonnes of pot, worth $2 
billion wholesale in 2000. By factoring in retail prices, the value 
of a marijuana crop can be more than triple the wholesale value.

The author believes Canada's marijuana legislation sends out mixed 
messages, and is kept to please the anti-drug US government. Even so, 
Washington remains unimpressed with Canada's response.

"Canada's ascendancy as one of the world's prime producers (of pot), 
for instance, earns it the kind of verbal slagging the US usually 
reserves for Columbia or Pakistan," he writes. "The Bush 
Administration would have you believe pot growers are creating a 
budding Sodom that endangers Homeland Security and the American 
Dream. And it's having little effect."

Whether you're for or against the legalization of marijuana, you'll 
find this book informative and interesting. Canada is one of three 
nations where medical marijuana can be legally grown, and will 
probably continue to develop new applications for its therapeutic 
use, as biotechnology firms enter this field.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman