Pubdate: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 Source: Lac du Bonnet Leader (CN MB) Copyright: 2007 Lac du Bonnet Leader Contact: http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=211&x=contact Website: http://www.lacdubonnetleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2956 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n856/a03.html Author: Robert Sharpe JUST SAY NO, CANADA Re: War on drugs going to pot, July 13 If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Writing under the pen name Janey Canuck in the early 1900s, an Edmonton woman by the name of Emily Murphy first warned Canadians about the dreaded reefer and its association with dark-skinned minorities. The sensationalist yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst led to marijuana's criminalization in the United States. At the time, marijuana use in North America was limited to Mexican immigrants and black jazz musicians. Whites did not even begin to smoke marijuana until after it was prohibited. Almost one hundred years later, Canada leads the industrialized world in cannabis consumption. Prohibition has been counterproductive at best. What started as a racist reaction to Mexican immigration has since morphed into an intergenerational culture war, with Canada's southern neighbor leading the global charge. The war on some drugs has given the (former) Land of the Free the highest incarceration rate in the world. There is a good reason millions of people prefer marijuana to martinis. Cannabis is easily the least harmful recreational drug available, legal or otherwise. Unlike alcohol, the plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Medical science tells us that jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions. History shows they are ineffective as deterrents. It's time for Canada to "Just Say No" to the American Inquisition. Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom