THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON THE DRUG WAR

Good morning. I want to talk to all of you, but especially parents, about
the dangers of marijuana. I don't mean smoking it; that's pretty much
harmless although you shouldn't then operate machinery or motor vehicles. I
mean the serious negative effects the drug war can have on your IQ and even
your morals.

Consider Wednesday's warning by U.S. drug czar Asa Hutchinson that if
Canada and Britain "start shifting policies with regards to marijuana it
simply increases the rumblings in this country that we ought to re-examine
our policy. It is a distraction from a firm policy on drug use." So
basically if we question the policy we might realize it's a bad idea and
abandon it and that mustn't be allowed to happen. How many bong hits would
it take before you'd say something (a) that silly and (b) that contrary to
the principle of rational inquiry in a free society?

For the record, John Barleycorn makes a good friend but a terrible master
and you should never take white powder for fun. But this isn't some summer
camp where the counsellors go "Give me a T ... an O ... a K ... and an E;
whaddaya get?" and we all have to shout "BUSTED!!" with forced cheerfulness
(except the smart-aleck in the back who yells "STONED!!"). This is a free
society where adults make their own choices. Until we start down the
slippery slope of Prohibition.

So I want to emphasize that there's no such thing as a harmless level of
drug war use. Just a bit of it made Bill Clinton's secretary of health and
human services, Donna Shalala, say, "There is no such thing as a soft drug
and there is no such thing as a drug that is illegal that is not dangerous"
and that parents had to tell their kids marijuana could impair learning and
memory. Well, the drug war can make you incapable of learning that every
study has found marijuana to be mostly harmless, or remembering why and how
Prohibition failed.

Worse, it can cause absurd, persistent delusions. Once-rational adults,
under its influence, become persuaded that Dionne Warwick is a menace to
society at 61. Along with former NBA stars Robert Parrish and Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, and Bob Denver of Gilligan's Island.

One guy who resisted the demon weed war is Justice Minister Martin Cauchon,
who just suggested decriminalizing small amounts of pot. A senior police
officer promptly asked how you'd catch dealers without the threat of a
criminal record to get users to rat on suppliers. A more lucid question
would be why you'd want to catch dealers, if the stuff is harmless. The
police admit it's the largest cash crop in British Columbia and Ontario. So
either you accept that normal people smoke it or you are compelled to
regard Canada as a nation of axe murderers not awash in blood only because
we're too stoned to remember where we put our axes.

Surely no one since Emily "Famous Five" Murphy wrote The Black Candle
seriously contends that marijuana leads to violence? People, do not
underestimate the debilitating effects of the drug war on the human brain.
Three years ago it caused Republican Mark Souder of Indiana to ask some
real live teenagers in a Congressional hearing whether marijuana might
account for some school violence. Those not burdened by undue sobriety know
it's "Drunk and disorderly" but "Stoned and sauntering."

The war on drugs can even render mature, educated adults incapable of
simple tasks hammered teens in a basement handle without difficulty. Like
growing good pot, here or in the U.S. The U.S. government tried to fend off
criticism from medical researchers by saying its stuff "does not contain
sticks and seeds" but the National Institute on Drug Abuse that produced
the G-grass had to concede it was "kind of harsh." Others less constrained
by the niceties of government called it "Mississippi ditch weed."

Alarmist? I assure you I have only begun to outline the damage the drug war
can do to your powers of reason. It can make you think it's worth diverting
scarce resources from the war on terror; letting violent criminals out of
jail to make room for people who sell pot to willing customers; locking up
impressionable kids with hardened, sexually aggressive felons.

This poison even turns lovers of liberty into communists. A few puffs and
Americans who once idolized George Washington suddenly think it's good to
have a czar. It made U.S. Customs Commissioner William von Raab request the
right to shoot down the presumption of innocence, along with any
unidentified plane entering U.S. airspace. Lest crazed druggies slay
innocents, you understand.

If something peddled in plastic bags in alleys caused this much stupidity
and abandonment of principle, the nation would recoil in horror. But it's a
tragedy that doesn't have to happen if we all do our part.

Just say no to the drug war.

John Robson is Senior Editorial Writer and Columnist.