OUR MARIJUANA LAWS STILL IN THE DARK AGES

Off-duty, journalists love the summer as much as anyone. But when he
or she is back in harness, your average ink-stained wretch will tell
you summer is not what it's cracked up to be, at least not in the
newsrooms of the nation. We call this the silly season, when the same
things that make it great make it tough to deliver a steady diet of
compelling, important news. An unfortunate by-product of the silly
season is that some stories take on a life of their own, their real
importance blown out of proportion by the lack of competition. Take,
for example, the extensive coverage this week about new federal
regulations around the medicinal use of marijuana. According to much
of the coverage and commentary about Allan Rock's announcement and
photo-op tour of the country's first government-approved pot garden,
this is a big deal. For the first time, Canadians who can demonstrate
that they need to smoke marijuana to ease and control chronic pain
and discomfort can grow and toke their medicine legally, provided
they have a licence from Health Canada and approval from their doctor.

In reality, this is a modest step, at best. Critics point out that
the policy is severely restrictive in that applicants must have a
life expectancy of a year or less, or be in severe pain from AIDS,
cancer or some other serious medical condition. Doctors or medical
specialists must support the application, and the process is
alarmingly slow. To date, fewer than 300 people have been approved,
with another 500 applications pending.

In addition, Ottawa has put in place a multimillion-dollar
infrastructure to produce and control medicinal pot distribution when
most people who need it get a better product for a fraction of the
cost. A much better solution would be to legalize simple possession
and license expert growers. But that's politically risky and complex,
so what we have instead is a halfway measure that pleases no one in
spite of Rock's best intentions.

Perhaps the greatest value of the week's events is that they show,
once again, how ridiculously outdated and ineffective our marijuana
laws are. More and more, the situation reminds us of alcohol
prohibition 80 years ago: Everyone knew booze was as popular as ever,
and that prohibition laws only drove production, distribution and
consumption underground, sometimes with disastrous results.

Even Canada's police chiefs have said the law should be overhauled
and simple possession of pot turned into an offence punishable by
fine rather than jail.

Right now, while Ottawa presides over its super high-security,
expensive pot farm in Manitoba, Canadians are buying pot on the
street corner, from their neighbours and friends, and often from
dealers who are the real criminals. Cigarettes which, unlike
recreational marijuana use, kill, are legal Alcohol is a controlled
substance. Pot, which most people agree is more benign than both
these, is illegal, and we arrest people for having a joint or two.
This makes no sense.