Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2016
Source: Daily Observer, The (Pembroke, CN ON)
Column: Valley Pulpit
Copyright: 2016 Pembroke Daily Observer
Contact: http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/letters
Website: http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2615
Author: Terry Burns
Note: Terry Burns is the pastor of Pembroke Pentecostal Tabernacle. 
Terry's opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the board and 
congregation.
Page: A4

GET READY, FIRE AND AIM!

The Feb. 13 edition of the Economist said, "Canada is ready to 
Trailblaze" and we have a leader that is more than willing to do the blazing!

It was a big week for our prime minister as he basked in the 
Washington glory and limelight, and who can begrudge him this 
political opportunity of a lifetime. Although an international rock 
star now, and quite competent in this role, here at home, we are now 
dealing with the reality of keeping his election promises. They are 
many, and they are costly!

This week, I want to focus on the Liberal promise to legalize 
marijuana, a promise made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau back in 
August of 2013 as he shocked only the truly conservatives among us, 
by announcing, "that as a sitting MP, that he had 'taken a few puffs' 
and that he had used pot 'only' five or six times in his life." Not 
sure if I believed him though.

I watched the CBC coverage of his disclosure on YouTube again this 
week and it was a great big reality check for me. Given his rapid and 
colourful ascent to power, few are fact checking his past stands on 
things. Come on Canada, we have to keep our prime minster honest as 
much as CNN is fact checking poor Donald Trump south of the border. 
In 2009, Justin was "for" harsh penalties for pot users. Do I hear, 
"flip-flop?"

The reactions of the public to his confession were varied. Some said, 
"no big deal," and another added, "as long as he is not doing it 
now." One young millennial surprised me with the statement, "But he 
has openly admitted to breaking the law and I don't find that a 
responsible thing for a sitting politician to do."

Out of the mouths of babes and orphans...!

He pulled this move out of Bill Clinton's "transparency " playbook. 
Bill said that he had used pot but "never inhaled!" Now we all know 
Bill might not be clear about the best definition of inhaling. 
Definitions were not his strong suit.

When the Economist talked about Canadian Trailblazing, it was with 
respect to the legalization of marijuana and I quote, "Trailblazers 
like Canada are writing rules that the rest of the world will copy; 
once laid down, they will be hard to uproot." The problem with the 
Economist research is, Canada is not writing any rules because the 
Liberals haven't got a clue about how to proceed. This is one promise 
that I am sure they wish they had not made.

The Liberals have done nothing more than to appeal to a demographic 
that they thought would vote for them. It may be a sizeable one at 
that. It is estimated that the world pot market is $300 billion US 
annually and that there are 250 million users and so if we think in 
terms of market size, Canada's number will be significant.

You won't have to guess that I am absolutely opposed to this Liberal 
promise being kept and for so many reasons.

Firstly, Canada will have to break existing international laws in 
order to create new laws that legalize marijuana use. The Trudeau 
Liberals will have to violate no less than three international 
treaties that deem marijuana possession and production as illegal.

Next, there is the issue of justice and historical fairness. Given 
the prime minister's own admission, and despite the fact that he 
should have been charged rather than given a free pass, should the 
government succeed in their legalization attempt, every single person 
ever convicted under the existing legislation should be pardoned 
under the new and reparations made for any financial hardships 
incurred while incarcerated. What is good for a Trudeau is good for 
everyone else!

Thirdly, the provinces will need to be on side with both regulatory 
and marketing efforts and that won't be easy. Quebec has already 
stated that it will not be allowing access to its system of liquor 
stores. And what of the territories who currently have community 
prohibition restrictions for alcohol?

Fourthly, and this is a biggie, once again liberals are clamouring to 
please the base without sufficient research preceding their actions, 
just as in the case of the provincial liberals and their 
implementation of the sex-ed curriculum this year. It is ready, fire, 
and aim for these governments wanting to please constituents and 
implement ideological agendas instead of needing to be responsible 
for the long-term welfare of society. Here is what we know so far, 
and according to research of Jonathan Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon University,

"Cannabis users are more likely than alcohol users to say that the 
drug has caused them problems at work or at home...Pot is a 
performance degrading drug...14 per cent of users are dependent...80 
per cent of consumption is accounted for by 20 per cent of the users 
and more than half of all cannabis is consumed by people who are high 
for more than half of their waking hours." This is pretty bleak stuff!

The fifth reason that I would cite for the folly of implementing the 
legal use of marijuana is that law enforcement communities are 
telling us that we can expect additional crime and especially 
additional impaired drivers on the road. We are not technologically 
ready for this! It is offensive enough that selfish impaired drivers 
are putting us at risk now under the influence of alcohol and that 
the cannabis users are largely getting a free pass.

Now I know that there are others out there ready to espouse the 
libertarian reasons for choice and that there are others still who 
would argue that legalization of marijuana is the right way to fight 
the war on drugs. They would say that, "legalizing pot, pricing it 
competitively and keeping taxes low during the introductory phase of 
implementation makes a lot of economic and business sense if you want 
to weaken and eliminate cartels and mafia monopolies and oligopolies 
in the trade." I will give you that one as someone who speaks that 
Economics language!

But as all my friends and those who read this column already know, 
sooner or later the theologian and father within will rule my 
thinking. Doesn't anyone out there in that liberal world and head 
space get alarmed when you read Caulkins research and other research 
like it? Justin Trudeau, (although he should know better from 
personal experience,) is a professional politician who is giving 
absolutely no thought to the real world of addictive behaviour in 
communities like ours. One child gaining access to a range of 
Justin's new cannabis line of products and becoming addicted is just 
one to many. You can bet he will be around for the photo op when 
tragedy happens though!

There is a principle in the scriptures taught to us by the apostle 
Paul. He was dealing with something we might call the "stumbling 
principle." When it comes to anything that might cause an innocent 
and undiscerning person to stumble and fall, then it is best for 
their sake that we not put a temptation in front of them." Is putting 
other people first a totally foreign notion to folks anymore?

Evangelicals like me believe that human history is winding up, that 
we are in the "last days" and I would add, the "last days of the last 
days." That time in history is described in prophetic literature as a 
time where there would be a very pervasive attitude and spirit of 
disobedience; people in general wanting to cast off every kind of 
restraint and restraint that was put in place by God's law for their 
protection and benefit.

No folks, I am still for full cannabis prohibition, and tougher (very 
severe) punishment for all manner of criminal activity surrounding 
its use. Now, I know my voice represents a very small minority of 
thinking anymore; even many in the Conservative ranks want to tap in 
to the disobedient flow of our liberalizing society in order to 
regain political market share. They can all go down that path, but I 
am not making the liberal journey with them.

I hope Peter McKay is well rested up and back in the action soon, 
because he was a clear mind and voice when it came to this big waste 
of our time!
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom