BANNING THE BAN ON POT: TIME TO LEGALIZE THE WEED

Prohibition is a farce.

That much is undisputed, as is evident by the ill-fated effort earlier this
century to outlaw alcohol, a misguided attempt at social engineering that
is now looked upon universally as an absolute failure.

For some reason, however, government and justice officials in North America
have failed to see how equally ludicrous it is to continue to pump millions
and millions of dollars into keeping marijuana illegal - while at the same
time lining the pockets of criminals who are benefiting from the very black
market that exists precisely because government deems pot a banned substance.

Despite Canada's insistence on following the U.S. lead and mimicking the
failed "War on Drugs" approach - and, yes, our police forces have taken
that approach, which is why the Abbotsford Police spends more than $500,000
per year on busting grow ops alone - we may finally be seeing some common
sense prevail in Ottawa.

Joe Clark, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, has gone
on record as saying that marijuana should be decriminalized.

Clark's rationale is that he doesn't think it is fair for a young person to
carry a criminal record for life for something as relatively minor as
possessing pot.

Decriminalization would make possession of marijuana a civil offence, akin
to a traffic violation, rather than a criminal offence, subject to a
criminal record and fine/jail time upon conviction.

While we would urge the federal government to legalize the weed, we applaud
Clark for taking an all-important first step by calling publicly for
much-needed and long overdue changes to the archaic way in which we view as
benign a plant as marijuana.

Clark's comments come in the wake of a decision last week by the federal
government to establish an all-party committee to look into the use of
non-medical drugs, such as pot.

The committee will have a report completed by November of 2002, at which
time we are confident - providing it looks at all aspects of marijuana use
and recognizes Reefer Madness-type rhetoric - it will side with the
majority of Canadians who feel that marijuana should not be a banned
substance.

Tax revenue, much less of a black market for criminals and an opportunity
to take a half-million dollars in Abbotsford and have our cops spend it on
something useful - not to mention allowing adults to indulge in a stimulant
no different than alcohol.

Now, how can that not make sense?