Pubdate: Fri, 22 Aug 2014
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Page: A16
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network
Contact:  http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Peter O'Neil
Referenced: Child well-being in rich countries - A comparative overview, See
pages 50-51: http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc11_eng.pdf

POT DEBATE ENTERS UNCHARTED TERRITORY

Challenge Is Legalization While Keeping Kids Safe

OTTAWA- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are warning
Canadians that Justin Trudeau wants to make weed "more accessible to
kids" by displaying and selling it in neighbourhood stores.

Nonsense, the Liberal leader replies. Canadian youth already have easy
access to the prohibited substance despite the Conservatives' hardline
approach to drugs. A regulated regime that legalizes cannabis, the
Liberals claim, will actually make access tougher.

"We are failing to protect our kids from the effects of marijuana,"
Trudeau said in an interview.

The debate, a textbook wedge issue sure to polarize voters in the 2015
election, appears to be resting on a simple question: How would
legalization affect Canada's youth consumption rate that is already
the highest in the western world?

There's no simple answer, say experts, because if a future Liberal
government fulfils Trudeau's promise, Canada will be doing something
no western developed country has dared try. So while both experts and
advocates for and against prohibition speak with certainty, there's no
model on which to base conclusions that back up either Conservative or
Liberal claims.

"There's no evidence that (legalization and regulation) won't impact
youth, but there's also no evidence that it will," said Rebecca
Jesseman, a policy analyst with the Health Canada-funded Canadian
Centre on Substance Abuse.

She said a well-regulated regime - which bans advertising and
marketing, gives young Canadians information on the effects of
cannabis on developing brains and uses taxes to keep prices relatively
high - has the potential to prevent an increase in youth
consumption.

"Absolutely, in an ideal world, you can design a perfect system," she
said. But the reality is even the best system can't remove the likely
role played by organized crime in continuing to supply cheaper
black-market product to youth, she said.

While there are plenty of unknowns about the Liberal plan, what is
clear is the poll-leading party has made clear it wants to not just
decriminalize but legalize and regulate the industry.

That goes much further than the New Democratic Party, which favours
decriminalization of possession of small amounts of pot, and the
Conservatives, who are considering a ticketing and fine system for
possession but oppose legalization or decriminalization.

It's a huge difference, because legalization represents a government
attempt to scoop through the tax system the bulk of the huge profits
that now flow to organized crime groups like the Hells Angels.

The Netherlands is perhaps the best-known example of a liberalized
regime - it has regulated retail sales of small amounts since the
1970s. But trafficking remains illegal and police action against
organized crime, as well as other restrictions imposed on the
country's famous coffee houses, have kept prices high.

Colorado and Washington have both recently legalized cannabis, as has
Uruguay. But experts say it's far too early to determine the effect.
Neither U.S. state will necessarily be the model Canada would follow,
since both allow advertising and marketing.

A UNICEF study found Canada's youth consumption rate highest among a
selection of developed countries in 2001-02, and 2009-10. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D