GO SLOW ON POT

A City of Vancouver proposal that Ottawa legalize and regulate
marijuana should be taken with a big pinch of salt.

The bold suggestion, contained in a 67-page report released yesterday,
is part of an overall drug-abuse prevention strategy authored by the
city's drug policy co-ordinator, Don MacPherson.

It's been praised by Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, who believes that
if pot production was legalized the community could benefit, because
the drug's production could be taxed.

But Campbell is quick to concede that his city's stand on this
endlessly debated issue will not produce immediate change, because
it's one for the federal government to decide. And so far Ottawa has
shown it prefers decriminalization to outright legalization.

Also, we think Ottawa should do some careful research before adopting
the city's pot plan, given medical indications that smoking marijuana
is at least as harmful as smoking tobacco.

Indeed, it's ironic the city would choose to release its report on the
day Canada's Supreme Court starts examining the validity of a B.C. law
that would let the province recoup the huge health costs of treating
smokers. That court case illustrates well how drug legalization is not
the panacea it's often cracked up to be.