Still waiting to inhale

Talk of pot decriminalization a re-run from 1969

The Straight Goods Cyber Forum
with Larry Solway

Commentary:

  Ottawa is seized, no - make that held in thrall - make that besotted - once again with the notion that marijuana use may not be criminal. Ho-hum and again.
  In 1969 the LeDain Commission looked at the issue. Of course, in 1969 we still believed (as many people still do today but they all vote Reform so who cares) that marijuana was the first step on the road to ruin through escalation to heroin. It may even have led to something worse - dancing!
  The illegal drug business is the most profitable industry in history, with revenues in the trillions. Most drug traffic is run for profit by thugs and international criminals and politicians and political movements in the service of the CIA and other groups whose aim is to make the world safe for democratic Capitalism.
  Here's a little of what LeDain came up with 33 years ago: Exporting should be included in the definition of trafficking and should not be subject to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment. The maximum penalty for trafficking or possession for the purpose of trafficking should be five years, and upon summary conviction, eighteen months. It should be possible in either case to impose fine in lieu of imprisonment.
  Trafficking should not include the giving, without exchange of value, by one user to another of a quantity which could reasonably be consumed on a single occasion.
  The costs to a significant number of individuals, the majority of whom are young people, of a policy of prohibition of simple possession are not justified by the potential for harm of cannabis. We, therefore, recommend the repeal of the prohibition against the simple possession of cannabis.
  There were dissenting opinions: Marie-Andree Bertrand argued that the federal government should remove cannabis from the Narcotic Control Act.
  The federal government should immediately initiate discussions with the provincial governments to have the sale and use of cannabis placed under controls similar to those governing the sale and use of alcohol, including legal prohibition of unauthorized distribution and analogous age restrictions. Furthermore, this government-distributed cannabis should be marketed at a quality and price that would make the 'black market' sale of the drug an impractical enterprise.

Despite the fact that the Commission was created to advise government policy, and that it is regarded as being among the most comprehensive reports of its kind, none of its recommendations have ever been acted upon by any Canadian government since it was written

  Despite the fact that the Commission was created to advise government policy, and that it is regarded as being among the most comprehensive reports of its kind, none of its recommendations have ever been acted upon by any Canadian government since it was written.
  Here we go again. The 39-year-old Justice Minister admits to use. The Prime Minister, disingenuous to the core, claims he was too old to use it when weed became fashionable. Sir, I am older than you and during the 70s I experimented more than once, I liked the experiment so much I repeated it to be sure. I stopped when realized I hated the loss of control.
  The government is still pussyfooting. They'll let you toke up but the growing and selling of weed will be criminal. The glaring idiotic inconsistency is that you can't have pot without traffic. The puritans who run things can't bring themselves to take over the management of marijuana and let it become a crime-free industry.
  Ottawa suggests that the "penalty" for possession will be no worse than a traffic ticket. What a senseless equivocation. Illegal parking is a crime. I don't understand the dance they do to give the impression that while they will permit toking up they won't give it legal sanction.
  Additionally of course is the American distaste for reality. They would rather be righteous than real so they continue to spend billions in a fruitless and hypocritical War on Drugs. But that's another story.
  The war on drugs is the biggest joke of all time. You can still buy whatever pleases you. American jails are about 80% filled with drug offenders. What's more, ask anyone in jail in Canada or the U.S. about how desperately hard it is to get a "fix" behind bars.
  Hypocrisy, Shame. Nit-wittery. (Is there such a word?)
  The day I send this by e-mail to Straight Goods, Rosie DiManno writes a silly piece about getting stoned in Amsterdam. She's right about one thing: laws against m-j are stupid. People who spend all their time worrying about their next "fix" are probably just as stupid.
  This morning in our doorway my wife picked up a used needle.
  The reality is that drugs, soft and hard, are being used. Governments had better realize that their indignation and law making does nothing.
  Legalize. Legalize. Legalize. Three words to live by.

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