Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jan 2013
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Authors: Ujjal Dosanjh, Colin Gabelmann, Graeme Bowbrick, and Geoff Plant
Note: Ujjal Dosanjh is a former premier of British Columbia (2000-01) and
B.C. attorney general (1995-2000); Colin Gabelmann was attorney
general of B.C. (1991-1995); Graeme Bowbrick was attorney general of
B.C. (2000-2001); Geoff Plant was attorney general of B.C. (2001-2005)

WE ENFORCED OTTAWA'S POT LAWS. THEY DON'T WORK

Law enforcement officials, academics and government officials gathered
in Ottawa this week to discuss how to keep Canadian communities safe
at a time when policing costs are soaring. Canada's failed marijuana
policies must be part of this discussion.

Last year, we made public our support for the taxation and regulation
of adult cannabis use, joining a growing number of prominent voices
across the country urging changes to marijuana policy. The proof that
cannabis prohibition has failed is irrefutable. We see the evidence on
our streets, in our communities and on the nightly news - gang-related
homicides and shootings, innocent victims caught in the crossfire,
grow-op busts and violent grow-op thefts.

Under marijuana prohibition, violent criminals are provided a
protected market that enables them to target our youth and grow rich
while vast resources are directed to ineffective law enforcement
tactics. Meanwhile, Canada's criminal justice system is overextended
and in desperate need of repair.

As four former attorneys-general of British Columbia, we were the
province's chief prosecutors and held responsibility for overseeing
the criminal justice system. We know the burden imposed on B.C.'s
policing and justice system by the enforcement of marijuana
prohibition and the role that prohibition itself plays in driving
organized crime and making criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

Recently, a study published in the International Journal of Drug
Policy concluded that regulating BC's cannabis market could likely
provide government with billions of dollars in tax and licensing
revenues over the next five years. These dollars are in addition to
the enormous cost savings that could accrue from ending the futile cat
and mouse game between marijuana users and the police.

The federal government has now enacted mandatory jail terms for
growing as few as six marijuana plants. There will be massive
provincial budget and expenditure implications from this bill and yet,
our streets will be no safer. It is time for a complete rethink.

We don't take our call for a new system of marijuana taxation and
regulation lightly. We know that there are harms associated with
cannabis use, like there are with alcohol and tobacco use. But we
expect significant benefits from a change in policy. The loss of the
massive illegal marijuana market in British Columbia would hobble
gangsters involved in the marijuana trade while at the same time
raising significant tax revenue. According to health experts such as
the British Columbia Health Officers' Council, a strictly regulated
legal market that restricts sales to minors would also better protect
young people from predatory drug dealers.

We are pleased to see that the debate over marijuana law reform is
happening across the country. We recently wrote an open letter to
party leaders in British Columbia, urging them to support Stop the
Violence BC's call to overturn prohibition and regulate marijuana.
Stop the Violence BC is a coalition of law enforcement and leading
public health and criminal justice experts who have joined forces to
call for the taxation and regulation of marijuana as a strategy to
better protect public health and safety. Several former B.C. mayors
have joined the effort, and lent their voices to create a groundswell
of influential opinion intended to persuade our elected leaders to
demand change.

The public recognizes that cannabis prohibition has failed. A recent
Angus Reid poll showed that approximately 75 per cent of B.C.
respondents support the taxation and regulation of cannabis.

Now it is time to put ideology and politics aside in favour of a
level-headed, evidence-based discussion about the failure of marijuana
prohibition and the policy alternatives available to us. Provincial
and municipal leaders across Canada must join, if not lead, the debate
and demand change. Only then will we end the prohibition-fuelled cycle
of crime, waste and violence.

Ujjal Dosanjh is a former premier of British Columbia (2000-01) and
B.C. attorney general (1995-2000); Colin Gabelmann was attorney
general of B.C. (1991-1995); Graeme Bowbrick was attorney general of
B.C. (2000-2001); Geoff Plant was attorney general of B.C. (2001-2005)
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