Pubdate: Sat, 06 Oct 2012
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Barbara Yaffe
Page: A13

POT PROHIBITION SERVES ONLY CROOKS AND PUSHERS

Taxpayers must be wondering how long the list of proponents will have
to grow before Ottawa moves to decriminalize pot use.

Last week, the Union of B.C. Municipalities became the latest group to
recognize the futility of Canada's existing marijuana laws, with
mayors voting at their convention to lobby Ottawa on the subject.

Specifically, their resolution called on governments to "decriminalize
marijuana, and research the regulation and taxation of marijuana."

The voters were mayors and councillors: politicians at the level of
government closest to the community, folks who understand how much
time and money is being wasted on a useless pursuit.

The Union of B.C. Municipalities should go further and form its own
task force to research pot regulation and taxation. The municipal plea
follows a similar one last February when four former B.C.
attorneys-general - Geoff Plant, Ujjal Dosanjh, Graeme Bowbrick and
Colin Gabelmann - called for the legalization of pot.

It's only a matter of time; at some point a less ideological, more
pragmatic political crowd in Ottawa surely will move to adjust
Criminal Code provisions pertaining to marijuana, opting for control,
taxation and regulation rather than prohibition.

Federal New Democrats support decriminalization and Liberals voted in
favour at their biennial convention last winter.

Indeed, both the Chretien and Martin Liberal governments introduced
bills, in 2002 and 2004, to decriminalize possession for personal use
of small amounts of cannabis.

In both cases, Parliament was prorogued before the bills were
passed.

Decriminalization, when it happens, doubtless will be welcomed by
Canadians, 66 per cent of whom think marijuana should be legalized,
according to a Forum Research poll in January.

It makes sense to start reaping some public benefit from an industry
that, in B.C. alone, is estimated to be worth $6 billion to $7 billion
a year.

At present, the B.C. government nets about $900 million a year in
revenue from liquor sales. Pot-related commerce, meanwhile, is
controlled by criminal gangs and goes untaxed.

At the same time, governments spend $450 million a year enforcing drug
laws, saddling otherwise lawabiding users with criminal records. About
50,000 Canadians are busted each year for possession.

Just as prohibition in the 1920s was manna from heaven for
bootleggers, in 2012 pot prohibition drives up the price of cannabis
and is a boon to the crooks and pushers.

Moreover, leaving pot laws as they are sends a negative message about
the sanctity of the law, given that people regularly flout marijuana
laws.

Witness the brazen potsmoking extravaganza - carried out in full view
of law enforcement officials - that takes place on the front lawn of
the Vancouver Art Gallery every April 20 as part of a World Weed Day
campaign to mock pot laws.

Education is the only effective means of thwarting pot use and
discouraging users from graduating to more serious drugs. A portion of
marijuana tax revenue could be directed to such public campaigns.

As a teen back in the 1960s, in Montreal, I was invited to try pot. My
mother asked my father to find some, and apparently he had no difficulty.

She then encouraged me to try the marijuana with her because, "so many
people have tried it; it's something you should experience."

We both lit up one evening at home. We found it made us sleepy and
left our mouths dry. Certainly not something we'd bother with again.

That said, the government revenue to be reaped from taxing the stuff
would have definite appeal.
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MAP posted-by: Matt