IT JUST MAKES SENSE TO END THE WAR ON DRUGS

Marijuana and drug trafficking are the central catalysts in the
current Lower Mainland gang war, yet we are discussing everything
except the obvious solution -- an end to the continental prohibition
on illicit drugs.

If U.S. President Barack Obama can frankly admit his past illegal
drug use, hasn't the time come for us to start talking seriously
about an end to the so-called War on Drugs launched by his disgraced
predecessor Richard Nixon?

I believe we are about to undergo a rather abrupt cultural change
around marijuana as its medical use becomes common instead of novel
and the public learns more about the drug.

Two recent separate appellate court judgments in Canada have set the
stage for a revolutionary change to the federal medical marijuana
program by ordering Ottawa to loosen the marijuana-production rules.

With between 400,000 and one million potential patients from sea unto
sea, the general familiarity that should follow will breed a far more
educated public than the one that now is easily misled about pot and
its effects.

We should take advantage of that attitudinal shift. As people learn
more about marijuana and become more educated about addiction and
drug use, saner policies should become more salable.

U.S. drug policy is already seeing radical change for those reasons.

Those who continue to offer the hoary shibboleth that Canada can't
consider legalization without offending Uncle Sam haven't kept up to date.

Massachusetts voters last year passed a statewide initiative to
decriminalize marijuana. Thirteen states already have laws permitting
medicinal use of pot.

New Mexico, the most recent to liberalize its laws in 2007, is trying
to figure out how to supply the roughly 200 patients it has licensed
to possess up to six ounces of marijuana.

Those suffering from cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy,
AIDS and certain spinal cord injuries can qualify. Eight additional
conditions have been recommended for the list, including Lou Gehrig's
disease, fibromyalgia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Hospice
patients are also eligible.

California has a dispensary system -- dozens of outlets that sell
cannabis products. The former Bush administration actively tried to
subvert these state initiatives by having federal agencies continue
to enforce the national marijuana criminal law.

Obama indicates he wants to see state wishes respected and has
repeatedly promised a change in federal drug policy in situations
where laws allow use of medical marijuana.

"I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same
purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by
doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate," he said.

Obama, 47, is my contemporary and our generation has had plenty of
exposure to pot and drug-law hypocrisy.

In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, the new president admits using
marijuana and cocaine in the context of trying to find himself.
Imagine if he had been busted -- no more future, no more audacity of
hope; he would have had trouble getting a job with a criminal record,
forget about running for office.

Obama's candour promises real change.

Let's face it. The current drug laws are not working. Too many lives
have been lost, too many families shattered and too many futures
ruined by the War on Drugs. It is too expensive and it is socially
corrosive. It is time to end it.

With its own mounting sanguinary gang problem, Mexico already is
debating sweeping drug-law reform at a national level.

Just as we ended the alcohol prohibition in the face of gang violence
and mounting social costs, we need to end the drug prohibition. Drug
use should be a medical issue, not a crime.

Donald MacPherson, the city's drug policy guru, says a sanctioned
discussion is needed about what the end of prohibition might look like.

The city's 2005 anti-drug strategy called for a national dialogue,
but the political will has been lacking. Mayor Gregor Robertson is of
the same generation and likes to draw comparisons between himself and
Obama. He should lead on this issue.

The shootings and the deaths of the last few weeks underscore the
need to reform our drug laws. Let's "officially" start to talk about it.