Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2013
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Les MacPherson
Page: A 16

LEGALIZING POT MAY BE GOOD WAY TO GET RID OF IT

By promising to legalize marijuana, federal Liberal leader Justin
Trudeau seeks to capture the all-important stoner vote.

Stoners will want to think twice, however, before they power down the
Xbox, haul themselves off the couch, brush the Oreo crumbs off their
chests and rush out to vote for Trudeau's Liberals.

Trudeau says marijuana should be legalized so it can be regulated and
taxed by government. The result almost certainly will be higher
prices, lower quality and reduced availability. The opposite of what
stoners want, in other words.

They should consider how the government taxes and regulates tobacco.
Taxes are so extortionately high as to make cigarettes all but
unaffordable.

Hardcore, low-income smokers thus are reduced to picking butts and
begging for cigarettes. Ask these poor shlubs about taxes and regulation.

As for quality, consider what has happened without government
involvement.

Thanks to the efforts of clandestine horticulturalists, today's
domestically produced bud is orders of magnitude better than the
Mexican stinkweed of the 1960s. To achieve the desired effect takes
about a tenth as much product. Prices are up too, of course, but not
by nearly as much.

Marijuana is more affordable, better and more easily available now
than it has ever been. This in spite of the vast and stupendously
expensive government apparatus devoted to stamping it out.

The better way to stamp it out is to let government tax and regulate
it. The potency of marijuana would be quickly reduced to levels barely
higher than those found in oregano, while prices soared, all in the
name of health and protecting innocent children. Never mind if junior
now needs 10 or 15 throat-searing joints to get any kind of buzz.
Remember when the government tried a few years ago to grow medical
marijuana? Patients who got their prescriptions filled compared it to
shredded green toilet paper. With the whole industry under government
control, this will be considered primo bud.

Stoners might think: So what? If government weed is crazy expensive
for all twigs and seeds, we'll go back to our old dealers. Except the
old dealers and the grow-ops that supplied them will be out of business.

To protect a government racket worth billions of dollars, authorities
will go after them as never before. It is one thing to evade police.
It is quite another thing to evade taxes and revenuers. The incentive
then for suppliers will be to move into product lines like meth or
crack that do not encroach on government turf.

Stoners will be tempted to grow their own and smoke it at home with
the blinds down. But where, then, is the advantage in
legalization?

As it is, marijuana is widely and easily available. The quality is
consistent and better than ever. The chance of getting busted for the
discreet, retail consumer is pretty close to zero. Of taxes and
regulations, there are none. The price is high, but not outrageously
so. In terms of price per unit of buzz, beer is more expensive. None
of this is going to improve with government pulling the strings.

Besides, Trudeau, given the chance, would not legalize marijuana
anyway. Liberals have for decades portrayed themselves as the with-it,
hipster party that was OK with Canadians smoking a joint, but in
government, they presided over more busts than any other party. With
respect to recreational drugs, their record of hypocritically
embracing the status quo is unblemished.

The real drive for legal marijuana in Canada is coming, not from the
Liberals, but from the U.S. Two states, Washington and Colorado, have
voted in binding referendums to legalize marijuana, while a number of
other states have decriminalized possession of small amounts. American
federal authorities are resisting, but with ever-decreasing vigour.

They eventually will come around. That's when Justin Trudeau can
safely make his move.
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MAP posted-by: Matt