Pubdate: Thu, 19 Apr 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: John McKay

POT BAN FUELS CROSS-BORDER VIOLENCE

Governments must recognize the failure of prohibition to curb crime
cartels in the massive marijuana industry

I have spent much of my legal career fighting crime, often in an
admittedly futile effort to suppress the organized gang activity
stemming from the cross-border marijuana trade in British Columbia
and the Pacific Northwest.

U. S. attorney John McKay says decriminalizing marijuana laws in
Canada and the U. S. would protect public safety.

During my six-year tenure as a United States attorney for the Western
District of Washington, I regularly worked with the RCMP and other
Canadian law enforcement groups attempting to limit the massive loads
of Canadian-grown marijuana heading south and the related flow of
cocaine and guns heading north. My time as the U. S. attorney also
included prosecuting Vancouver's Marc Emery, who was sentenced to five
years in U. S. federal prison for peddling marijuana seeds to every
man, woman and child with a few bucks, a stamp and an envelope. If
changing marijuana policy was Emery's goal, he took the wrong path.

However, as Emery's prosecutor and a former federal law enforcement
official, I am not afraid to say publicly what many of my former
colleagues know to be true: marijuana prohibition is dangerous, and
should be overturned in Canada and the U. S. through the legislative
process to protect public safety.

Governments on both sides of the border have failed to publicly
acknowledge that criminal prohibition of marijuana - like that of
alcohol - is a dismal and destructive failure. Widespread availability
of marijuana on both sides of the border exists because violent
international drug cartels, operating in cannabis-producing regions
like British Columbia, reap billion-dollar revenues from the
industry. With the resulting profits up for grabs to the most ruthless
and violent, no measure of law enforcement can constrain this market.

Even with massive growth in antidrug enforcement budgets over the last
several decades, law enforcement has not intercepted anywhere near
enough marijuana to suppress this industry. Arrests and seizures
simply create an economic opportunity for new players to enter the
market, with violence the tactic of choice to gain or maintain market
share.

Brave agents and cops continue to risk their lives in a futile attempt
to enforce misguided laws that do not reflect the realities of
society. These same agents and cops - along with prosecutors, judges
and jailers - are well aware we can't win by arresting all those
involved in the massive marijuana industry or by locking up pot smokers.

I suspect nothing good can come to anyone from frequent ingestion of
marijuana smoke, but its addictive potential and health risks pale in
comparison with other banned drugs such as heroin, cocaine or meth. In
fact, most health experts see regular alcohol and tobacco use as being
more dangerous than marijuana use.

I recently visited Vancouver to lecture in support of the Stop the
Violence B. C. coalition. This group calls for marijuana taxation and
regulation, and includes current and past members of law enforcement,
public health experts and political figures, including four former B.
C. attorneys-general. These leaders recognize that marijuana laws
have not achieved their stated objectives and have instead set the
table for organized crime and their criminal activities.

In light of the clear failure of marijuana prohibition to reduce the
drug's use or hinder organized crime, a completely new approach is
needed. While some Canadians fear that the U. S. would take action if
Canada reformed cannabis policies, the reality is that Canada has
fallen behind many U. S. states in reforming marijuana laws. Fourteen
U. S. states have already taken steps to decriminalize possession of
personal use amounts of marijuana.

In California, for instance, possession of up to one ounce of
marijuana has been decriminalized, with simple possession reduced from
a misdemeanour to an infraction. Possession of less than 28.5 grams of
cannabis is treated like a traffic ticket, punishable by a $ 100 fine.

Furthermore, U. S. elections in 2012 will see ballot initiatives
aiming to tax and regulate marijuana in both Washington state and
Colorado. This approach is not soft on crime. Rather, it seeks to
protect public safety by waging economic war on the violent organized
crime groups that are benefiting from marijuana prohibition.
Specifically, it involves governments moving away from policies that
encourage an increasingly violent and unregulated market towards
policies that have public health and safety as the core objectives.

Cross-border cooperation will be essential. Criminal cartels propped
up by marijuana prohibition have exported violence, guns and hard
drugs along with their pot for far too long. Governments and law
enforcement on both sides of the border should be discussing the best
strategies to tax and regulate this market, reduce violence, and
infiltrate and dismantle the cartels and gangs to ensure community
safety. In other words, it's time for politicians, cops, judges and
jailers to publicly state their private convictions.

John McKay is a law professor at Seattle University and the former
United States attorney in Seattle.
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