Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2009
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2009 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/info/letters/index.html
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502

END THIS MARIJUANA CHARADE

On Monday, Winnipeg Police Inspector Dave Thorne stood atop the 
Legislative Building's steps and gazed out at a throng of hundreds, 
perhaps thousands of people publicly -- flauntingly -- breaking the 
law by smoking marijuana, and observed: "Our view is this is a 
worldwide protest for the proponents of decriminalizing marijuana. 
 From a police point of view, it's more about providing a safe 
environment for people to express their views. It doesn't mean we 
promote the breaking of acts or statutes, but we're trying to be realistic."

In cities across the country the same scene played out as marijuana 
militants advocated for the legalization, or at least the 
decriminalization, of marijuana, and even more politically 
unmotivated just-plain-potheads took advantage of 4/20 -- which might 
be called International Marijuana Day -- to take a hoot in public 
without fear of being harassed or arrested.

It was almost certainly the greatest day for criminal activity in the 
history of Canada, with thousands of crimes being committed across 
the country -- or one crime being committed thousands of times, 
depending on how one interprets it -- while the police looked on 
benignly. In Ottawa, police turned the same blind eye as they did in 
Winnipeg. In Vancouver, they did not even bother to show up for the 
well advertised crime spree.

Some Canadians, some police officers, politicians and prosecutors, 
might argue that the police were being derelict in their duty, which 
is to arrest people when they see crimes being committed. Many more, 
however, would argue that the police on Monday demonstrated a finer 
sense of responsibility in their common sense and restraint than the 
federal government has shown so far in its stubborn and indefensible 
persistence in keeping the possession and trafficking of marijuana a 
criminal offence punishable by imprisonment. As Insp. Thorne said, 
the police "are trying to be realistic." Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper and his Conservative government -- almost the last, lorn 
opposition to reforming Canada's marijuana laws -- could learn a 
lesson from the Winnipeg police.

Mr. Harper could also lift a huge weight from the backs of police 
forces across Canada which are tasked with the job of enforcing 
Canada's marijuana laws, arresting teenagers and lawyers and doctors 
and construction workers for smoking the "killer weed," hunting the 
growers who supply it to dealers who sell it to the users to no one's 
particular harm but at considerable profit for the criminal 
organizations attracted to it because it is illegal. All that effort 
could be better applied to serious crimes.

Marijuana use is not as common in Canada yet as the drinking of beer, 
but it may be as common as the smoking of tobacco, both of which are 
legal and licensed and which supply huge revenues to federal and 
provincial governments. The fear is that marijuana use will grow if 
it is legalized, but it is growing anyway, at no financial gain to 
government and at great cost to individuals in terms of criminal 
convictions. It is time to end this charade and legalize and regulate 
the sale of marijuana in the same way we do other popular and 
irrepressible drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. It's time we were 
all realistic.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart