Pubdate: Tue, 13 Nov 2012
Source: Langley Advance (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.langleyadvance.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1248
Author: Bob Groeneveld
Note: Bob Groeneveld is the editor of the Langley Advance

IS THAT GRASS I SMELL BURNING?

What's that smell?

That acrid, smoky smell?

Almost like skunk, but not quite. A bit sweeter. Sort of like the 
neighbour is burning his grass clippings.

Aha! That's it! Burning grass! I smell burning grass.

It's wafting up into B.C. from across the border in Washington State, I think.

But it's not grass "clippings." It's "grass."

It's dried green bits of vegetative matter rolled up in little bits 
of paper and bringing an air of lassitude-along with adding that 
distinct odour to the air-to our neighbours to the south.

It's the "evil weed."

But it's not evil down there anymore.

Last Tuesday, a majority of voters in Washington and in Colorado 
jumped ahead of the curve.

They succeeded in doing what Vancouver's mayors, past and present, 
have gotten together to say they would like to see done in their 
city, in their province, in their country.

They've done what B.C.'s former attorneys general have crossed 
political party lines to join in saying together.

They've voted to legalize grass. And I'm definitely not talking about 
lawn clippings.

Grass-call it pot, ganja, weed, Mary Jane, hemp, or marijuana-is no 
longer illegal in those two states.

At least, that's what they think. They voted to legalize it, and you 
can bet your bottom dollar that there's already a lot of folks 
celebrating there, expecting that federal law won't bear down on them.

They're lighting up their joints, bongs, hookahs, corncob pipes, or 
whatever other form of ingestion that may be preferred from household 
to household.

And you can bet that a lot of the smoking isn't confined to the back 
room anymore.

And here's the thing: probably no one who didn't smoke grass before 
Tuesday's election results were tallied is smoking it now.

Except there may be a few new smokers whom the statistics indicate 
probably would have pulled their first toke today anyway.

Indeed, if the statisticians have got it right, there may well be 
slightly fewer grass burners in those two states a year from now than 
there are today.

More importantly, there will be a significant number of pot smokers 
who will still be smoking pot-instead of moving up to heroin or coke 
or meth-a year from now.

It's kind of sad that Americans (of all people!) have beat us to the 
punch on this one.

We have two major federal political parties that have declared that 
the war on drugs is a losing cause, and where marijuana is concerned, 
at any rate, it has been counterproductive.

Both the federal NDP and Liberal parties have indicated that the 
legalization-or at least decriminalization-of grass would be a 
positive step forward.

Our InSite injection centre has shown that we are better off with 
even hard drugs in a controlled situation than chasing the impossible 
dream of stamping them out altogether.

Study after study has shown that grass is no worse, medically 
speaking, than the wine that you or I could legally ferment by the 
gallon in our own basements. Or beer.

I don't-and have no wish to-smoke grass, legally or not.

But I can't for the life of me understand why people who can legally 
brew up their own alcoholic beverages are not allowed to grow one or 
two pot plants in their backyard-and maybe put the seriously 
dangerous grow-operators out of business.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom