A SMART RESPONSE TO B.C.'S POT HABIT

UVic Report Shows Prohibition Tactics Doomed; Education, Anti-Crime
Measures Right Response

Stephen Harper should take a hard look at this week's study on
marijuana use from the University of Victoria's Centre for Addiction
Research. It signals certain failure for the kind of law-and-order
crackdown on the drug the Conservatives appear to favour.

That shouldn't be a surprise, just as the study's findings shouldn't
come as a shock. British Columbians are more likely both to use
marijuana and to believe that it should be decriminalized.

About 1.8 million British Columbians say they have used marijuana, a
majority of the adult population.

More significantly, some 590,000 people have used it in the past 12
months. That is an awful lot of people Harper thinks should be
considered criminals. (Conservative candidates in B.C. only attracted
about 680,000 votes in the last election.) All those pot-smokers
represent a market so large that efforts to choke off the supply
through law enforcement are doomed, just as Prohibition was doomed in
the 1920s. When a product is widely accepted and in demand, the
market will respond. Even with a massive investment in policing and
the criminal justice system, new suppliers will continue to emerge.

That's already happened. A University of the Fraser Valley study on
growops found that in 1997 police across B.C. investigated more than
90 per cent of grow-op reports within one month.

By 2003, that had fallen to 50 per cent.

Up to 25 per cent of reports were never followed up. The study found
almost two-thirds of British Columbians reported pot was easy to find.

None of this is to suggest that marijuana use is harmless. The study
suggests that about 10 per cent of those surveyed were at moderate
risk of problems related to their marijuana use.

The consequences of pot use may be less serious than other drugs,
including alcohol. But they shouldn't be ignored.

But a strategy based on arresting more people and locking them up for
longer periods isn't going to work. As long as demand is strong and
the public considers marijuana use acceptable, supplies will be there.

Real solutions start with defining the problems. If marijuana
production has become a major revenue source for organized-crime
groups, then perhaps the most effective measure would be to legalize
possession of a small number of plants, cutting the criminals out of
the game. If the concern is with abuse, especially by young people,
then increase fact-based education and counselling about sensible
substance use.

There are practical ways to reduce the harm from drugs. But the
experience of the last several decades -- and the results from this
study -- should have shown us that a tough law-and order approach
isn't one of them.