600,000 REASONS WHY POT POLICY DOOMED

Victoria - It wasn't exactly a newsflash that British Columbians are
fond of marijuana. All those jokes about BC Bud have to be based on something.

But last week's report on marijuana use in B.C. from the University
of Victoria's Centre for Addiction Research should be a reminder of
the need to overhaul our policies on pot.

And it should be a special warning to the Harper government that
tougher enforcement, longer sentences and hardline rhetoric are
doomed to be costly failures. In B.C. especially, an effort to wipe
out marijuana use - and by extension production and sale - has about
the same chance of success as banning alcohol. Governments concerned
about the negative effects of marijuana use need to come up with a
smarter approach.

The problem for the get-tough crowd is that the B.C. public doesn't
buy the idea that marijuana use should be a crime. A majority of
British Columbia adults have used marijuana, the study found, about
1.8 million people.

More significantly, almost 600,000 used pot in the last 12 months.
That's more people than voted for either the NDP or the Liberals in
B.C. in the last federal election and almost equal to the number who
voted Conservative.

That Reality Has At Least Three Significant Public Policy Implications.

First, a get-tough approached based on the argument that marijuana is
an imminent threat is doomed. Marijuana still trails far behind
alcohol as a drug of choice - about 2.7 million of us reported
drinking in the last year. But by the time almost 600,000 people are
using marijuana occasionally the chances of winning public support
for a big criminal crackdown have vanished. It doesn't matter if
politicians think that's good or bad. It's reality. Arrests for
cannabis-related offences have doubled in the last decade, with 75
per cent of them for possession. There's been no effect on use.

Second, that traditional efforts to attack the supply side - more
police, longer sentences and all the rest - won't work. When demand
for a product is strong and there's widespread public acceptance of
it, than the laws of the market take effect. Suppliers will emerge to
meet the demand. Shut down one, and another will step forward. That's
the lesson of Prohibition in the U.S. and of virtually every drug
strategy since.

And third, that the risks marijuana - and other drugs - pose in terms
of public health and safety will not be addressed as long as
governments pursue a doomed strategy.

And there are risks, contrary to the claims of some marijuana
advocates. The centre's study found that about 10 per cent of users
were at moderate risk of problems related to their marijuana use. No
one could imagine that daily marijuana use is a good thing for an
already unmotivated 15-year-old. And production and sales are
fattening the bank accounts of organized criminals.

But as long as the emphasis is on talking tough, then there's little
time or money left for education about risks, smart use or
recognizing and dealing with problems.

There's no targeted effort to restrict access to youth, as there is
for alcohol and tobacco. (The report notes daily use of marijuana is
now more common among young Canadians than tobacco.) And criminals
still profit from sales.

At the same time, the resources going toward marijuana enforcement
could be better spent. About half of drug arrests in Canada in 2004
were for cannabis offences, the study notes. Most Canadians would
likely welcome broader efforts to curb meth, heroin and cocaine use,
the drugs driving crime in most cities.

The former Liberal government appeared to be heading toward
decriminalization for possession of pot and up to three plants. (That
alone would likely make a big dent in the profits of from criminal grow-ops)

But the Harper government has so far talked about enforcement and
tougher penalties, the old language of prohibition.It's not going to
work. The study makes that obvious.

Footnote: When a drug reaches a certain level of use, enforcement
becomes impossible. A University of the Fraser Valley study on grow
ops found that in 1997 police across B.C. investigated more than 90
per cent of grow-op reports within one month. By 2003, that had
fallen to 50 per cent. Up to 25 per cent of reports were never followed up.