IS HARPER CONSERVATIVE ENOUGH TO LEGALIZE POT?

Letter to the editor:

City council recently discussed the increasing problem with marijuana
grow houses and what to do about them. The source of the problem and
the solution are both federal matters, not municipal. Only the impact
is municipal.

We now have a government in Ottawa that seems to espouse conservative
issues - reducing taxes, improving law and order, etc. Unfortunately,
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government may be more committed to
religious fundamentalist concepts than to truly conservative ones.
Same-sex marriage is an example.

One issue now gaining favour among conservatives is the legalization
of marijuana. Originally opposed to it, I, too, now believe that
there are good reasons for legalization. But is this government
conservative enough to act on them, or will its connections to the
religious right preclude a common sense solution to this continuing quagmire?

I was surprised by the Fraser Institute's 2004 study, "Marijuana
Growth in British Columbia," which recommended that marijuana be
legalized, taxed and regulated the same as alcohol. The institute is
a respected and highly conservative think-tank boasting such
conservative notables such as Mike Harris and Preston Manning on staff.

That study estimates that British Columbia's marijuana industry alone
is worth $7 billion in low-risk, untaxed, illegal, cash revenue for
organized crime. Using conservative assumptions about Canadian
consumption, estimated government tax revenues would exceed $2
billion if marijuana was legalized.

Aside from the new tax revenue, other social benefits are predicted.
Legalizing marijuana would be a crippling blow to criminal
organizations by depriving them of several billion dollars in annual,
untraceable income and by ending a cash flow used to subsidize other
criminal activities. Police resources devoted to marijuana
enforcement could be reallocated to other areas.

The Fraser Institute is not the sole conservative organ calling for
legalization. The National Post in Canada, The Economist (U.K.), and
The National Review (U.S.) have all examined the issues surrounding
the legal status of marijuana. Like the Fraser Institute, each has
concluded that marijuana should be legalized.

Of course, there are some social costs, just as there are with
alcohol and with gambling. Some marijuana users go on to use hard
drugs. We accept the social costs of alcohol and of gambling because
they are not sufficiently widespread to justify depriving the general
population of access to these vices. There is no evidence to suggest
that marijuana will be any different.

It was reported in 2004 that then Conservative justice critic Vic
Toews criticized Ottawa for taking so long to move on its marijuana
reform bill. With the Liberals gone, Justice Minister Toews is now in
a position to take the initiative. Legalize marijuana.

Douglas H. Brown