POT POLITICS

By The News

De-criminalizing marijuana is the worst of both worlds. The move by the
federal Liberal government to not prosecute people for possessing or
growing small amount of pot will only lessen the burden on the court in
jurisdictions where personal use of marijuana is still prosecuted.

That's certainly not the case in B.C., where law enforcers are hard-pressed
to get court time for large-scale grow-ops, let alone simple possession.

Will it make it easier for police to clear out hydroponic grow operators?
No. Will de-criminalizing possession of marijuana make it more difficult
for youth to get it? No. Will it inconvenience pushers, dealers, growers
and the arch-criminals they report to? Hardly. The skanky creeps who make
pot more accessible than liquor to minors can, if the justice minister's
promised legislation passes, hang around the park with just under the legal
limit.

The hydroponic grow ops, which are a genuine and serious threat to
residential neighbourhoods, are hard enough to bring down now. In future,
police will be challenged to evaluate evidence to determine which is the
legal grow-op, which is the illegal one.

De-criminalizing possession of pot for personal use exists in reality, if
not fact. Better than catching up with current practices, the federal
government should step ahead and legalize the substance. As the tale of
Elliot Ness versus Al Capone should have taught us, we cannot win the "war
on drugs" when the war is fought on the criminal's terms.

The government has a weapon the criminals do not - regulation. Legalize the
substance, control it as society does with another potentially dangerous
drug, alcohol, and toss in cigarettes for good measure.

What was that bumper sticker? "Stamp out crime. The government hates
competition."