LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT: BENEFITS OF DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA SHOULD
MAKE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS SMILE

The latest hit to the forest industry in B.C. -- an estimated 14,000 jobs
lost for an indefinite period -- has sobered outlooks and prospects across
the business spectrum. Now, more than ever, some entrepreneurs in this
province will be drawn to an industry that ranks among the three or four
biggest in the province, one in which we are reputed to be world leaders:
growing and exporting high-quality marijuana.

It's an industry that exemplifies what has long been advocated for the
forest industry. Through ingenuity and research, B.C. growers have
developed strains that enable them to charge premium prices for a commodity
otherwise widely available.

As our story on self-proclaimed Prince of Pot Marc Emery revealed (Dope
seeds spur growth, August 14-20, 2001), at least one of those entrepreneurs
has come out of the closet to champion his industry. His is a galling story
only because he is openly flouting the law, mocking a legal structure that
distinguishes Canada from less law-abiding jurisdictions where "business
risk" has a whole other meaning. Emery is flouting the law because
prohibition of marijuana is misguided and futile. An increasing number of
citizens, politicians and police officers are coming to that conclusion,
recognizing that the worst thing about the marijuana business is the law
against it.

Make it legal and, on balance, we would be better off. Economically, we
could unlock the potential of thousands of British Columbians who are now
trapped in an illegal underworld. Without the protection of the law, they
are forced to create their own means of enforcing contracts. An industry of
uncontrolled enforcers with ties to much fouler deeds has grown up, some of
whom openly boast of their power to escape incarceration. The RCMP
estimates 20 homicides in B.C. last year were related to pot disputes.

After years of working in an illegal industry, it becomes difficult for
people from the marijuana industry to surface into legitimate work. They're
tainted by an unexplained gap in their resumes and a network of contacts
who live outside the law. The easiest avenues open to them are other, less
desirable, illegal activities. As the underworld revenues multiply and the
legitimate economy continues to sag, B.C. plays into the hands of organized
criminals.

These perversions can only develop when a significant proportion of the
population supports or at least accepts the marijuana business. (Other
drugs have other complications outside this discussion.) That is the case
with pot in British Columbia, as it is with coca-growing in the other
Colombia. Small town B.C. mayors, car dealers and retailers are well aware
of the importance of pot growing for their local economies.

Most people in B.C. understand that damage to health is a non-issue: the
respected medical journal The Lancet recently concluded that "moderate
indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect on health, and decisions to
ban or to legalize cannabis should be based on other considerations."

On the addiction spectrum, the percentage of pot users who are "dependent,"
according to 1999 U.S. Food and Drug Administration data, is around 12 per
cent. That's higher than alcohol and pain relievers, but below stimulants,
sedatives and the big one, nicotine (80 per cent of its users are dependent).

Conservative leader Joe Clark advocates marijuana decriminalization.
Outgoing chief inspector of prisons in the U.K. Sir David Ramsbotham,
former U.K. minister for social security and Conservative deputy leader
Peter Lilley and former B.C. chief coroner Vince Cain back legalization.
And when they and 34 per cent of Americans recently polled by USA Today
advocate legalization of marijuana, they are generally agreed on some key
points:

- it would reduce crime;

- restrictions on its production, sale and use while driving would be
necessary, as they are for alcohol, nicotine, sedatives and stimulants;

- it would break the supply link between marijuana and hard drugs;

- tax revenues would be substantial;

- it would save millions now being spent on enforcement and incarceration;

- it would improve respect for the law among young people; and

- it would allow people freedom to control their own bodies and minds.

One of the benefits of B.C.'s lax enforcement -- grow-house operators in
Vancouver aren't even being charged -- is that our marijuana industry is
gaining brains from the U.S. The penalties there are so ridiculous that
jails are crammed with nonviolent drug offenders. Forty per cent of U.S.
drug arrests are for possession of marijuana, a crime without a victim, a
substance deemed medicinal in Canada. Some of the growers profiled in
recent media accounts acknowledge they moved here from the U.S. because
it's a better, safer environment for their business, although most B.C.
growers appear to be small-time entrepreneurs acting out of economic
desperation and good old capitalist greed.

Bringing those brains out into the open, protecting them from underworld
enforcers and taxing their exports would be a big economic boost for this
beleaguered province.

It's not that different from what we have done with gambling over the past
decade. Without denying its harmful addictive properties, we've made the
revenues legitimate and turned it from an underworld activity into a
controlled source of significant public funding.