DECIDING THE PLACE OF MARIJUANA

Canadian Society Is Debating Pot's Place - Medical, Decriminalized, Or...

Marijuana has been in the news more and more recently, but it has
transcended the crime log and moved to the health and political pages once
again.

Earlier this week, marijuana became prescribable by physicians to ease the
pain of chronic sufferers and for other patients who, the medical doctor
feels, can benefit from the numbing effect of the drug.

Canada has become the first Western democracy to take this step, and it has
been met with a lot of criticism by those who feel the new law will promote
wider use of the drug and, in some cases, turn doctors into - ostensibly -
pushers. They say MDs will be put in the position of feeling compelled to
sign off on pot prescriptions. In past, physicians have come under fire for
too easily prescribing drugs such as valium and prozac without giving it
much of a thought. Critics again feel the new law will do the same for pot.

In addition to the medical developments, Red Deer city recently council
talked about decriminalizing marijuana, but the feds won't allow it since
they make the laws that govern its use.

But no one in Red Deer was calling for legalization of marijuana. What they
were calling for is decriminalization. And make no mistake, the difference
isn't one of semantics. Legalization would put marijuana in almost the same
ballpark as alcohol.

Decriminalization would only mean that those arrested for smoking or
possessing marijuana would be given a ticket and fines. If the Criminal
Code was changed, pot smokers would no longer have criminal records if
caught enjoying the "herb".

Police spend tens of millions of dollars to enforce marijuana laws that
simply aren't enforceable. Police just can't keep up.

Police will maintain the power at their discretion - depending on the case
- - to charge users and growers with criminal offenses. The change in the
legislation would give them more latitude in how to deal with minor offenders.

Ultimately, Canadians have to decide what role marijuana will play in its
society. Will the evolution stop here, keeping pot in a category with other
prescription-only drugs such as morphine, or will it take another step and
look at decriminalization, in hopes of taking the burden off of law
enforcement and even raising a little bit of extra revenue while at it.

A number of American states have decriminalized pot. Their enforcement
costs have dropped by hundreds of thousands of dollars and in some cases,
by millions. Beyond what was spent on enforcement, the fines have increased
government revenues considerably. The change also allowed police forces to
redirect the money spent on marijuana enforcement into the pursuit of more
insidious drugs and the courts are no longer choked with simple possession
cases.

But, and it's a big but, Canadian society must ask itself if it is prepared
to allow another controlled substance to become socially acceptable. We all
know the damage that alcohol can and does do. The escapism that these
controlled substances offer has little benefit to society as a whole.
Beyond what it does to some family units, both substances take a heavy toll
on our health care system. Marijuana is said to be 10 times more
carcinogenic than tobacco.

Before we allow another controlled substance to gain a form of acceptance
in this country, we must weigh the actual monetary costs against the
abstract social costs.