U. S. BEGINS MARIJUANA LEGISLATION DEBATE

Some politicians in the U. S. seem to be waking up to the fact that
their country has for years incarcerated at least five times as many
people per capita than the rest of the world. At the same time, the
war on drugs has been a dismal failure. America's jails are overflowing.

When I came across an article by Mindelle Jacobs in the May 12
edition of the Standard- Freeholder, I was astonished by her claim
that the tide is changing in the U. S. and that the liberalization
of marijuana laws may be just around the corner. I suspect that
Harper's Conservatives must be reeling with this news, getting their
spin doctors primed up, while concurrently proposing amendments in
Canada which include a mandatory six-month jail sentence for growing
even one marijuana plant. Oh, I see. The repressive methods
have been a dismal failure in the U. S. but now we're going to put
people in jail here in Canada for holding one pot plant. Unbelievable.

The U. S. has had a cruel and failed justice system for the last 40
years in regards to drug crimes, and millions of American lives have
been destroyed for even simple possession of marijuana. The
statistics tell a staggering story. The U. S. has 5% of the world's
population but incarcerates 25% of the world's nine million prisoners!

But the Americans are finally admitting that their drug laws haven't
worked, and that they can't afford to keep putting their citizens in jail.

So now the economic argument kicks in. Since the U. S. is in a
deepening economic crisis, some legislators want to tax marijuana at
$50 per ounce, bringing in about $1.3 billion in a state like California.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has probably never ever smoked a
joint in his lifetime, acknowledged that it's time to have the big
debate, and then bring those tax dollars back to the statehouse. I
guess he figures if it is legal to smoke pot in an Alaskan home, and
considering that several states have decriminalized pot, with 13
states permitting medical marijuana, then why shouldn't California
get in on the action?

But wait a minute. Isn't marijuana the 'devil's weed'? The Americans
have demonized the stuff forever, and have put lots of pressure on
countries, like Canada, to follow their directives. For the most
part we have complied with their condemnation of pot .

So, all of a sudden, the Americans plan to legalize it, tax it, and
make huge profits.

Oh, then I guess it can't really be the 'devil's weed' after all if
the government is willing to sell marijuana to the people. It's
called: legitimization. We should also add that 50% of Americans
indicated in a recent poll that they favour legalization. Not that
the lawmakers ever carry out what the people's wishes are anyway,
but it makes everything look good.

I think the real truth about legalization of marijuana is that it
has only ever been about economics and always will, and that most of
the other issues concerning marijuana have been ignored or dismissed.

So now, during tough economic times the cat is out of the bag. It's
not about marijuana at all, it's about the money.

Kevin Parkinson

Cornwall