New World Man

Well the National Post didn’t print my letter, but they did publish an unsigned editorial that said it all, and much clearer since it clearly has more than 3 minutes of cold-medicine induced productivity in it.

It shouldn’t be all that surprising, since the Post seems to print a pro-legalization editorial every month or so, but it’s still a bold move, and a needed one, as those in favor of prohibition attempt to capitalize on last weeks tragedy.

…Canadians must ask themselves whether one of the policies that James Roszko was violating — drug prohibition, particularly as applied to marijuana — is one that police officers should be risking their lives to enforce. The answer, as we see it, is no.

The marijuana industry attracts men like James Roszko not because there is anything intrinsically evil about pot, but because it is an illegal substance that, by definition, only criminals are in a position to provide for consumers. As with alcohol prohibition in the United States, the effect of criminalizing marijuana has been to create a business opportunity for well-armed thugs.

This would not be a reason to question current policy if the legal campaign against marijuana were worth the cost. After all, police put their lives on the line all the time when they patrol our inner cities or cruise our highways — yet we accept those risks because we recognize they are part of the price of safe cities and streets. But in the case of pot, criminalization has been a failure: Marijuana is still freely available at a low price to most high school students. Indeed, it is so prevalent that most police simply look the other way when they see it being smoked.

…

The legislation that has been languishing in the Liberals’ files for several years now would only decriminalize marijuana possession, and only in small quantities. Growing and selling marijuana would still be illegal. This means the criminal class would continue to monopolize the trade, with their hidden grow-ups and loaded guns.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 7th, 2005 at 08:57 and is filed under politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.