IT'S TIME TO LIGHT A FIRE UNDER MARIJUANA USE

Yesterday's key Senate committee report that recommends Canada
legalize the use of marijuana is a wake-up call.

While we're not convinced that legalizing this drug is the answer, the
status quo isn't the answer either.

As the report notes, as many as 100,000 Canadians use marijuana daily,
about two million have tried it in the past year, roughly half the
90,000 drug incidents reported annually in Canada involve cannabis and
up to 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for simple possession of
the weed.

Further, the costs of drug enforcement in this country runs at $1
billion to $1.5 billion and a third of that relates to marijuana. One
can only guess at the annual value generated by pot, but it has to be
many billions of dollars.

Some say in B.C., for example, that marijuana is our highest-valued
agricultural crop.

This is a very big business -- with a huge market and equally large
social problems and costs.

In this regard, it's like alcohol, the legal drug of choice for many
that the U.S. tried -- unsuccessfully -- to ban in the 1920s.

While the Senate report says it's "not endorsing cannabis use for
recreational consumption," it does say that marijuana should be
"regulated by the state much as we do for wine and beer, hence our
preference for legalization over decriminalization."

The committee advocates licensing production and distribution, but
would ban sales to or use by individuals under 16.

Sales to non-residents would also be banned, a move it thinks will
stop U.S. residents from rushing across the border in a way similar to
foreigners flocking to wide-open Amsterdam, where tulips and canals
are no longer the main attractions.

News reports say U.S. President George W. Bush has made it clear to
Canadian officials that he's against liberalizing marijuana laws and
some U.S. Congress members from the Northwest have warned that the
move would result in stiffer border controls. That's a concern for all
Canadian businesses exporting to the U.S.

On the other hand, lifting marijuana from the underground economy
would likely result in a massive increase in tax revenues, enabling
Ottawa and the provinces to cut other taxes.

But, as the Canadian Police Association said yesterday: "Drugs are not
dangerous because they're illegal; drugs are illegal because they're
dangerous."

Well, alcohol is a dangerous drug too, but it's legal. And there-in
lies the dilemma. But let's hope this report gets serious debate on
marijuana use out of the starting gate.