WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE

A marijuana grow-operation has been uncovered in Fort
Simpson.

This discovery, and subsequent seizure by the RCMP, provides a perfect
opportunity for residents of the village to examine their stance
against drugs.

With the news of the discovery spreading across the village how are
people responding? The telling question will be how many people are
shocked by this news.

Hopefully many people will be surprised to learn that cannabis plants
were being grown in the village. It would be best if this feeling
sprung more from a disbelief that this could happen in Fort Simpson
rather than a general naivety.

While marijuana has been embroiled in debates over legalization and
medicinal uses, these are not the questions at hand. What has to be
examined is where people want to draw the line.

If the news of a marijuana grow-op isn't shocking and instead elicits
a sense of acceptance rather than outrage what does that mean about
the community?

If people weren't shocked it suggests either they knew about that
grow-op or similar operations or that they just accept marijuana use
as being so prevalent that they think the plants are bound to wind up
even here.

But if homegrown cannabis is all right, what other illegal substances
are you willing to accept?

Sure marijuana is on the bottom of the illegal drug list when judged
by overall negative effect, but that doesn't give people the green
light to grow it. Marijuana is, after all, considered a gateway drug.
If you use it the argument is that you're more likely to pick up
another, harder drug next.

While cocaine, another popular drug in the North, is unlikely to be
grown locally because it also comes from a plant, what about crystal
meth?

Southern media is full of reports of the growing sway of crystal meth
and the home-based meth labs where it's produced. One day you're
living in a safe neighborhood and the next day the house beside you
explodes in a ball of flames because it was an illegal meth lab filled
with volatile chemicals. Worse yet, teenagers and adults alike are
becoming addicted to the substance.

While this is an extreme example and Fort Simpson is unlikely to be
home to a meth lab any time soon, it's still a possibility.

Following the laws of the market economy, where there's a demand, a
supply will come to fill it.

With the revelation that there was a marijuana grow-op in the village,
residents have a choice whether they accept it or work to ensure that
there aren't any more. The village has been given a chance to decide
where to draw the line on what is and isn't acceptable when it comes
to illicit drugs.