Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jan 2012
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2012 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Bruce Cheadle

POLICY PITFALLS COULD QUICKLY KILL BUZZ AROUND LIBERAL POT PROPOSAL

If Liberals are serious about presenting voters with a credible plan 
to legalize and regulate cannabis in the next federal election, they 
have a lot of work to do.

Even some of the most passionate advocates of an end to pot 
prohibition acknowledge that legalization is a much more complicated 
public policy than the "just say no" criminalization model that 
critics say is such an abject failure.

 From Canada's signature on international drug conventions to the 
logistics of local marijuana production, distribution and taxation, a 
host of crucial policy decisions will face any government that 
attempts legalization.

"You have to think harder about how to regulate it," says Eugene 
Oscapella, who teaches drug policy in the criminology department at 
the University of Ottawa.

"With criminalizing, we just ban it so we don't have to think too 
much   but it doesn't work and it causes tremendous problems. To 
actually develop an intelligent policy requires a lot more work."

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae alluded to those looming headaches at 
last weekend's party policy convention, where 77 per cent of voting 
delegates endorsed the pot legalization model.

"It's now up to us to take that resolution and see exactly what it 
will mean in terms of policy," Mr. Rae said, "because there are some 
practical questions we have to look at."

Many of those practicalities are hinted at in the lengthy Liberal resolution.

It commits the party to "legalize marijuana and ensure the regulation 
and taxation of its production, distribution, and use, while enacting 
strict penalties for illegal trafficking, illegal importation and 
exportation, and impaired driving."

The resolution goes on to propose increased youth drug education 
(already a government policy), an amnesty and record clearance for 
all previous convictions of simple possession, and federal-provincial 
negotiations on regulatory control "while respecting ... particular 
regional concerns and practices."

Mark Haden, an academic at the University of British Columbia and 
author on drug policy issues, has developed spreadsheets that lay out 
various options for distribution models.

"The commercialization model versus the public health model is really 
the first decision, and then all things flow from that," Mr. Haden said.

"I think the public fear is we're going to give it to the commercial 
companies and they're going to take it and run with it. And that 
isn't true. Well, it could be true, but it's a truth I strongly 
advocate against."

Among the questions policy-makers must ask:

 >> What sort of branding, if any, and packaging would be permitted?

 >> What would the age limit be for consumption?

 >> Who would be permitted to grow marijuana, and in what quantities? 
Would only licensed growers be allowed to produce pot?

 >> What would be the distribution point, public or private enterprise?

 >> Would there be volume limits on individual purchases, unlike 
alcohol and tobacco?

 >> A tax rate would be required that is high enough to discourage 
consumption but low enough to deter the black market from 
undercutting legal sales - a balancing act tobacco regulators 
continue to juggle.

 >> How would Canada manage crucial border issues with a 
prohibitionist United States?

It's only a partial, yet daunting, list of policy questions, with 
plenty of political risk.

Michel Perron, CEO of the government-funded Canadian Centre for 
Substance Abuse, expresses his anti-legalization position in terms of 
the precautionary principle.

"Our default position is let's not put any more genies out of the 
bottle," Mr. Perron said. "Let's try to ensure we can manage best 
what it is we're doing and how we work it."

Mr. Perron argues some of the perceived benefits of legalization 
would be lost in implementation.

"Put another way, simply legalizing marijuana is not going to address 
many of the problems that they've raised."

For one thing, most people agree that any legalized pot regime would 
have age restrictions prohibiting younger consumers, similar to 
alcohol. So enforcement policies   and costs   would continue under 
the new model.

And as legalization advocate Mr. Oscapella observed in an interview: 
"As long as the United States prohibits cannabis, there will be a 
black market in Canada in relation of sales to the United States."

Severe penalties, and police interdiction, will still be needed.

How much less policing might cost under a legalized pot regime 
depends on how the system is structured, and who you ask.

Mr. Perron, coming at the issue from a substance abuse perspective, 
laments the vastly different conclusions arrived at by researchers 
with "competing interests" using largely the same data.

"It exacerbates an already highly politicized issue and sometimes 
creates a certain paralysis around it," he said.

Critics say that's a recipe for public policy inertia. Few would 
argue that almost 90 years of marijuana prohibition in Canada   with 
ever-increasing government efforts to deter its trade   has been a success.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's office said he was unavailable all 
week for an interview on the Liberal legalization proposal.

"That said, our government has no intention to decriminalize or 
legalize marijuana," Mr. Nicholson's spokeswoman added.

The Justice Department, however, has commissioned an evaluation of 
the Conservative anti-drug strategy, which provided a largely 
favourable report last September.

Obtained under Access to Information by The Canadian Press, the 
report's specific findings on the relevance and effectiveness of the 
strategy were blacked out. The report also twice lamented that the 
strategy "does not have specific measurable targeted outcomes."

It also noted that "regulatory deficiencies, the massive scope of the 
drug problem and limited resources of enforcement partners," all 
contribute to "gaps" in the Conservative government's enforcement plan.

Skeptics such as Mr. Perron of the Canadian Centre for Substance 
Abuse call legalization "an untested social experiment," but others 
insist there is a wealth of knowledge and experience at hand.

"They've been thinking about this for decades," said Mr. Haden, who 
works closely with B.C.'s health officer council.

"The work is being done now in anticipation of a legalized regime. We 
can start to talk about what it looks like."

Mr. Haden's assessment is sobering, nonetheless.

"We do understand some regulatory principles around lots of things. 
We understand from alcohol and tobacco. We can learn the lessons from 
there and say: Big mistake, let's not replicate that error."

With reports from Steve Rennie
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom