Pubdate: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Coast Reporter Contact: http://www.coastreporter.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580 Author: Brent Richter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) LEGALIZE IT, TAX IT, FORGET ABOUT IT Sechelt - The provincial budget has come down and the message is clear: brace for deficit spending. It's not the spending I'm worried about so much as I am paying for it later. Our neighbour three doors down, California, is an even worse financial spot than we are. So much so Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office is issuing IOUs to state employees instead of pay cheques and has opened up a Twitter page to collect ideas from the public on how the government can raise money. Desperate times. The response was clear, though. "Legalize, regulate and tax marijuana," was one of the most common responses. Desperate measures. But financial desperation shouldn't be the only criteria to make governments re-evaluate their stances on pot. The lose-lose situation we are now in when it comes to drug enforcement is only benefiting organized crime groups. They enjoy a monopoly they are willing to fight and kill for. Numerous polls, including one conducted in May by Angus Reid Strategies, found the majority of British Columbians would like to see marijuana legalized and taxed. This position seems to be held by academics as well. Free market economists like Simon Fraser University's (SFU) Stephen Easton have written detailed papers on how legalization can work and what we might expect. Marijuana is also recognized by numerous provincial attorneys general as a currency that is often produced here and traded straight up for guns and cocaine south of the border. SFU criminologist Neil Boyd has spoken out against prohibition in its current form and has stated numerous times and numerous ways how we'd be better off with legalization, and the gangs would be worse off. Even our own medical health officer, Paul Martiquet, published a column in Coast Reporter in April stating the Health Officers' Council of B.C. was taking up the anti-prohibition cause relating to all drugs. The solution cannot be a B.C.-specific one, though, as changing the criminal code is a federal responsibility. The situation is further complicated by the fact that changing the law would put Canada in a mighty awkward position with the United States, which is nowhere near ready to look at even decriminalization. It's a staggering and bold task, but it can be done. It's just going to take some political will and gumption. It's starting to smell like there's going to be another federal election this fall, and if there is, you can bet the economy is going to be issue number one. As revenues are down, deficits are up and service cuts are on the way, the message from the governments to their ministries and departments on keeping the lights on is getting repetitive: "Be creative." Here's a creative thought. Stop pouring funding into law enforcement, courts and corrections to enforce drug laws while organized crime groups' profits are in the hundreds of millions and shootings across the Lower Mainland help the gangs carve out their territories. It's time to stop the nervous nail-biting and myopic prohibition of marijuana. Undercut the criminal economy, lessen the burden on the justice system, and install a regulated and lucrative legalized system for the benefit of all. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake