DRUGS: SHOULD WE GO DUTCH?

They say (I don't know who "They" are but They must be very smart and
important people) that when faced with writer's block, the most effective
way to get the ball rolling is to write a few facts. So, here goes:

Kittens are cute. The Olympics have become a joke. Gloria Steinem got
married. And Canada should legalize drugs. Hmmm, now which one of those
should we tackle today? Adorable little fuzzy creatures? Corporate buggery
and the steroid controversy? Feminists who in their later years suddenly
realize they might become lonely after all? Or how ineffective methods are
making a bad problem worse for an entire country with a pigheaded
government who just won't admit it's going about things all wrong?

Let's try that last one.

Unless you're been on a really long bender over the past year, you've
probably noticed that organized crime is getting a lot of media attention
lately. Bikers are constantly causing a ruckus, a journalist was shot just
for doing his job. The fields of Quebec farmers are being taken over by
marijuana growers who plant their own crops, then booby trap the area to
keep the farmers out and threaten their families and children to keep them
from squealing.

All these happenings - and more - have one thing in common. If, as we are
led to believe, drugs are the basis of organized crime, then they wouldn't
be happening if drugs weren't illegal. Let's take a look at some more facts
and, while we're at it, some fiction.

Fact: The ineffective "war on drugs" being fought at the moment affects
many more people than those who are actually on them. Innocent people are
caught in the crossfire. Even if nobody threatens your children and you
aren't shot, think about the information you get from the media. If one
reporter was shot for telling what he knows, imagine how many journalists
might know way more than we tell you? The information you receive might
very well be censored or altered for fear of repercussion.

Fiction: The law against drugs keeps people from using them. According to a
continuing series in the Ottawa Citizen, Why the War on Drugs has Failed,
there is absolutely no evidence that this is true: it states that
"experience from all over the world shows that drug use rises and falls
with surprisingly little regard for the legal status of drugs."

In fact, writer Dan Gardner points out, rates of addiction and drug use
have exploded over the past five decades and notes, cunning observer that
he is, that "drug prohibition became fully entrenched in international law
and aggressively enforced about five decades ago."

Fiction: If drugs were legal, use would soar and addiction would become an
epidemic. Translation: most people are complete and total morons. I've
never done heroin and, if it were legal, I would still not do it and
neither would you if you have any brains.

I know lots of people who do all kinds of drugs and illegality has never
been a factor in their decision to smoke, shoot up or get hepped up on
goofballs.

Also according to the Ottawa Citizen, when Holland made possession of small
amounts of drugs such as heroin or cocaine de facto legal, "Dutch
consumption of these drugs, far from exploding when the criminal law was
pulled back, stayed fairly stable."

Also, marijuana is legal and controlled in Holland and - guess what? - "The
Dutch rate of marijuana use continues to be one of the lowest in the
western world."

Put that in yer pipe and smoke it!

Oh yeah, and "the Dutch rate of drug-related deaths is the lowest in Europe."

Fiction: Throwing people in prison for narcotics is a deterrent. Prison is
a great place for drug traffickers to make contacts with other drug
traffickers and when you can get them in there, well, what else are you
supposed to do with your time?

Fact: Europeans are way ahead of us. "Many European countries are now
moving toward the decriminalization or de facto legalization of mere
possession of drugs."

Fact: Colombia too. According to Friday's Vancouver Sun, it is proposing
widespread legalization of hard drugs. "Colombia will argue at the
Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas in the spring that
decriminalizing and regulating drugs like heroin and cocaine and channeling
profits into fighting addiction is the best way to undermine organized crime."

Colombia should know, as Senator Antonio Guerra pointed out, because there
"the cultivation of drug crops and the production and trafficking in
narcotics has permeated all aspects of public life and the private sector."
He argues: "Legalization could mean depriving drug traffickers of the
powerful economic ingredient that makes this illicit activity so lucrative."

People should be more angry about this than we are. I know that if I had a
child who became a casualty in a biker war or if I were a farmer afraid to
enter my own field and fearing for the lives of my children, I'd be pretty
mad at the cause, which is the inaction of a government that's too busy
dancing around issues and too afraid to admit that nothing is getting done
and maybe it's time to explore other avenues.

I don't have space to get into all the arguments here but the solution just
seems so blatantly obvious and, even if I'm wrong, I'd still like to see
our glorified nose pickers at least stand up and admit the subject merits
discussion. Is that too much to ask?

Probably.