FREEDOM AND POT

For the most part, the new Conservative government's efforts to
reverse Liberal policies are welcome. On child care, for instance,
the Tories are to be praised for ignoring shrill protests from
lobbyists and some provinces in moving away from their predecessors'
bloated national daycare scheme. We expect they will soon do the same
on the national gun registry, as they have promised. But on one
matter, the Conservatives' determination to change course is misguided.

As they have done since this issue was first put on the table, the
Conservatives continue to oppose liberalizing our drug laws -- even
in the extremely mild form the previous government favoured, which
involved decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for
personal use. Asked earlier this week if the Tories would consider
reviving decriminalization legislation that passed second reading in
the last Parliament, a spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews
responded,"It is a very short answer and the answer is no."

Many Tory supporters no doubt agree with this position. But if the
party were to look closely at the conservative values that guide it
- -- or at least, should guide it -- we suspect they might come to a
different conclusion.

Nothing is more central to the appeal of conservative parties than
their willingness to curb interventionist governments. For the most
part, Mr. Harper appears to understand this -- proposing to scale
back the Liberals' grandiose programs and focus on key priorities.
But in an area in which there is every reason to get out of
Canadians' faces, the Tories have taken the opposite approach.

As Don Martin noted in this newspaper yesterday, 600,000 Canadians
are currently saddled with criminal convictions for their use of a
relatively harmless substance -- a serious matter for anyone
attempting to travel outside the country. But even decriminalizing
marijuana does not go far enough. Under the Liberals' plan, trading
in it would have remained illegal, and even those caught in
possession of small amounts would have been subject to fines. In
other words, users of a substance less harmful than alcohol and
tobacco would still have been targeted by police. And to make matters
worse, enforcement tends to be unevenly applied -- the vast majority
of marijuana use overlooked while a select few face consequences.

If the widespread use and increasing social acceptance of marijuana
are not enough to convince the Tories of the merits of legalization,
the dent that it would put in crime should do so. For a government
committed to a law-and-order agenda, the opportunity to end a black
market should be enticing.

The best reason to change our drug laws, however, remains the
principled one. As the Tories have recognized on other issues,
Canadians are capable of making their own decisions without
government holding their hands. Do they really need state protection from pot?