DECRIMINALIZE POT

I've been feeling sick today. Not because of some chronic debilitating
disease, but rather because of the rampant lack of rationale in our drug
laws. I'm speaking, of course, of marijuana, the most contested narcotic in
history. Right now, our government is faced with a landmark decision. What
do we do about our outdated marijuana laws?

Oddly, all of the reporting has only given two options, appeal the court's
decision declaring our current law unconstitutional, or, amend the law to
differentiate between medical and recreational use. Overlooked is the third
option, decriminalize it altogether.

Unfortunately, due to loads of disinformation from our ultra-conservative
neighbours to the south and some serious apathy on the part of our
policy-makers, a wonderful and helpful substance has remained illegal. It
is time to change this.

Consider the following. Marijuana has been shown to be exponentially less
harmful than legal substances such as tobacco and alcohol. It also has been
shown to have no appreciable long-term effects (it doesn't make you
stupid). It's non-addictive and that gateway theory (that marijuana leads
to hard drug use) was blown away long ago.

If that alone isn't enough, let's look at how marijuana can help us. First
and foremost, with our underfunded police force not having to waste
resources prosecuting marijuana offences, they can more readily concentrate
on real crime, and hard drugs.

Secondly, decriminalization takes pot out of the hands of drug cartels and
criminal organizations, and puts it into the hands of legitimate small
businesses that could produce and distribute it in licensed establishments
(can you say job creation?).

Why do we need to be protected from pot? To smoke or not is a personal
choice. The U.S. drug war has been a unilateral failure, yet Americans
stubbornly hold on to false beliefs. Let us not follow suit, despite the
pressure they place on us. It's time to be the progressive nation we claim
to be.

Jason Hinchliffe