FIXING THEIR HEADS

Politicians make so many stoner moves it's about time they made one
that makes sense.

Actually, they're already too late. At 4:20 p.m. Monday, the federal
government should have announced the use, cultivation and sale of
marijuana is legal in Canada.

Of course that wasn't going to happen, on a federal level at least;
the current government enjoys playing silly games of cops and robbers
too much for that. But here in B.C., it's high time at least one of
the major parties took a serious stand on lighting up.

The better decision would be legalizing all drugs - see Bruce
Strachan's reprise of a recent Economist leader for that argument -
but politicians are timid little things, so it's best to let them keep
the training wheels on for now by sticking to pot. The rationale is
pretty simple:

. It's legal to smoke a cigarette, drink a bottle of Jack Daniels,
stick a paycheque in a slot machine and buy a gun in B.C. Yet pot is
one of the bad guys.

. The war on drugs, however well-intentioned, is an abject failure.
One only has to look at Afghanistan, where counter-narcotics efforts
are hamstringing coalition forces, alienating the local population and
exponentially compounding already corruption in the region, while
monstrously expanding worldwide heroin supplies, to see that.

More importantly though, the economic argument has never been more
compelling. As every high-school dropout to dimestore college
philosopher knows, if it's stimulus you're after, grab a bong.

The thinking at once borrows from Milton Friedman and repudiates him.
Perversely, government regulation has created a effectively
self-regulating multi-billion dollar industry containing a
highly-skilled, entrepreneurly-minded, innovative workforce with a
global reputation for excellance; B.C. Bud is almost a poster child
for how intervention from the state can bolster the economy through
unintended consequences. But the revenues from the grow ops - one 2001
report pegged the wholesale value of the crop at $4 billion - are not
taxed and, perhaps more grievously, the marijuana industry is
extremely constrained in its ability to access the conventional tools
of capitalism, such as the raising capital.

Basically, grow ops can't fully grow because of government. Mr.
Friedman would frown at that.

Pot advocates have been making this argument for years and if the Bank
of Canada is considering printing money due to the current economic
catastrophe, B.C. can think about legalizing marijuana. It's an
instant stimulus package - how many other points in history has any
government been able to instantly create a multi-billion-dollar
industry simply by signing a piece of paper?

The political barriers are boogeymen. Ottawa would fuss and fret but
the current government has the moral authority of a swamp adder. There
is the U.S. and its draconian drug policies to consider but California
is already enacting medical marijuana rules, it has little appetite
for a trade war and besides, the guy in the White House is the first
presidential candidate to admit he's used cocaine.

He'd probably be able to live with a legal B.C.

And the one thing that would mollify the U.S. somewhat - making the
export of marijuana illegal - would double-down the effectiveness of a
marijuana stimulus package. If you want a puff, come to the best place
on earth - can you think of a better tourism boost?

Regardless, one thing voters will hear ad nauseam during this current
election campaign is diversification, the province needs to diversify,
it needs more value-added, blah, blah, blah. They're right, but they
never actually produce the magic wand to make it so. Legalization
gives them one.

Because, while there's nothing wrong trying to peddle more
two-by-fours to China, it would be better if at the same time B.C.
offered the whole world a toke.