LIVING THE HIGH LIFE

The media's coverage of the marijuana industry seems limited to
reports of police raids on grow-ops. Ian Mulgrew, legal affairs
columnist for the Vancouver Sun, has provided a bigger picture of
what's involved in his book, Bud Inc. It describes the marijuana
trade from grower to user, with geographical emphasis on BC.

Mulgrew makes very clear his personal bias for the legalization of
marijuana, while noting the law in Canada still makes possession a
criminal offence. He uses the old argument that prohibition against
alcohol in the early 1900s did little to reduce public demand for
booze, while directing profits to criminals. Now that alcohol
consumption has been legalized for decades, governments reap tax
revenue, and the public benefits from standardized product quality.
Mulgrew feels the legalization (not just decriminalization) of
marijuana could lead to the same scenario. In addition, the Canadian
government would save a few hundred million dollars every year from
lower law enforcement costs.

In late 2003, Canada's Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional for
the federal government to make marijuana possession a criminal
offence. It also said that if marijuana law is to be altered, it
should be done through Parliament, by changes in legislation. Ottawa
has exempted several hundred users of marijuana from prosecution,
because of medical conditions that justify marijuana use, and has
issued them Health Canada cards. Health Canada also licences some
growers to produce and supply users with this medical marijuana. The
purpose isn't recreational, but to reduce pain and other negative
effects of serious illness.

However, Canada's medical marijuana program got off to a rough start
in both the quality and supply areas, and medical doctors, needed to
recommend patients for the program, were reluctant to become involved.

"The Canadian Medical Protective Association and the Canadian Medical
Association told doctors not to participate because of potential
legal liability. They argued doctors should not be the gatekeepers to
the use of marijuana because there had been none of the usual testing
for dosage and quality that drugs usually undergo before public
release," writes Mulgrew. "They also maintained there was no solid
evidence, only anecdotal support, for marijuana's effectiveness and
scant data as to its medicinal qualities. They feared future lawsuits
from patients if pot proved to have unexpectedly pernicious side
effects, such as occurred with tobacco."

South of the border, the US government opposes medical marijuana use,
as part of its war on drugs. It's ironic that American federal law
enforcement officers can arrest and prosecute a patient for pot use,
even if living in a state that had legalized its use for medical
purposes. The US government continues to press governments of other
nations (including Canada) to make marijuana production and
consumption illegal, because what's produced in other nations can be
smuggled or exported to America. Mulgrew includes some information
from a university economist, who claims BC, the leading marijuana
producing province in Canada, exported 1,433 tonnes of pot, worth $2
billion wholesale in 2000. By factoring in retail prices, the value
of a marijuana crop can be more than triple the wholesale value.

The author believes Canada's marijuana legislation sends out mixed
messages, and is kept to please the anti-drug US government. Even so,
Washington remains unimpressed with Canada's response.

"Canada's ascendancy as one of the world's prime producers (of pot),
for instance, earns it the kind of verbal slagging the US usually
reserves for Columbia or Pakistan," he writes. "The Bush
Administration would have you believe pot growers are creating a
budding Sodom that endangers Homeland Security and the American
Dream. And it's having little effect."

Whether you're for or against the legalization of marijuana, you'll
find this book informative and interesting. Canada is one of three
nations where medical marijuana can be legally grown, and will
probably continue to develop new applications for its therapeutic
use, as biotechnology firms enter this field.