STOP TRYING TO CHANGE THE LAWS OF ECONOMICS

Marijuana grow operations have generated much public attention lately a
result of both the tragic killings of four RCMP officers in Alberta and the
media coverage of the recently released police-funded research on the topic
in British Columbia.

As a criminal lawyer who frequently acts for people charged criminally with
producing marijuana and offences related to this activity, I have
considerable experience with the fallout of these matters.

No police-funded study was necessary to confirm that marijuana grow
operations are a serious public concern. The list of problems associated
with them is long: house fires, damaged rental properties, injuries and
death resulting from police forcibly entering and searching homes as well
as home invasions and robberies by criminals in search of marijuana plants.

Make no mistake, the consequences of this activity and the attempts to
enforce the law have consequences for both people engaged in growing
marijuana as well as those who do not.

Home invasions and police searches are not perfectly targeted affairs. You
may be subject to either whether or not you are producing marijuana.

Of equal concern are the more indirect consequences of the present state of
affairs: The underground economy that results from the profits to be made
in the drug trade and the flourishing of organized criminal activity.

This has a cancerous effect in society. We wind up with criminal
organizations, the laundering of the proceeds of crime, and the potential
for corruption.

When we hear about the foregoing problems, we should remember this: They
are all of our own making.

If it were possible to eliminate marijuana, alcohol, or a host of other
problematic substances by declaring their production or possession to be
criminal, to do otherwise would be irresponsible public policy.

The reality is that our attempts at prohibiting such things have been an
abject failure. Despite all of our efforts anyone who wants marijuana, or
much more detrimental drugs, is able to obtain them with ease. In Victoria,
this is often accomplished on the lawn next to City Hall.

It's as it was with alcohol prohibition in the United States, which
resulted not in an end to drinking, but the creation of Al Capone.

The blame for this state of affairs does not lie with either the police or
the courts. They are simply doing their best to enforce the laws that
presently exist. Neither institution has any hope of eliminating the supply
of substances for which there is a demand.

The only effect they can have is to modestly restrict the supply and drive
up the prices for those who are interested in purchasing these things. They
do so at great public expense in terms of enforcement, prosecution and
incarceration.

The answer does not lie with longer jail sentences. This has been tried and
failed in the United States. It simply exacerbates the existing problems.
Higher risk leads to higher prices and with them greater incentive to
engage in the activity.

Were the production and possession of marijuana to be legalized, there
would be no incentive to engage in any of the problematic behaviours that
are associated with it.

How many rental houses have been damaged recently by exploding moonshine
stills? What was the last time you heard of someone being injured as a
result of a police raid on a speakeasy?

We need not lose any more young police officers in a futile attempt to turn
back the laws of economics.