IF GAMBLING'S GOOD, WHY NOT POT?

I spoke to Kevin Krueger recently to ask him to explain the difference
between his party's voracious criticism of gambling expansion (in
particular online wagering) while in opposition and the fact it is
salivating as it expands gambling like no other government in North
America.

During the conversation, the Kamloops-South Thompson MLA and tourism
minister compared government involvement in cyber-casinos to the
failed prohibition experience of eight decades ago.

"There's no going back," he said of government's foray into gambling.
"It's like alcohol. Prohibition ended up benefitting organized crime
and government changed its mind."

Based on that view, I asked, why shouldn't marijuana - or any other
illegal drug, for that matter - be legalized? It's a fact prohibition
benefits criminals and, the stricter the prohibition, the more money
flows into the pockets of the underworld.

Krueger mentioned the fact the legalization issue is a federal mandate
(true, though provinces can take stands and push for needed change);
argued marijuana is a gateway drug (actually, alcohol is the
pre-eminent gateway drug); and that he has heard reports of dealers
lacing marijuana with stronger, addictive drugs to create a repeat
customer base.

The last claim is hard to believe, considering the $7-billion-a-year
marijuana industry hardly needs anything more than the plant to
maintain customers.

And, for argument's sake, even if it were true, that's more reason for
government to legalize, regulate and tax pot. Government did so for
alcohol and I would suggest treating teens for drinking bad Budweiser
and busting stills in the hills are rare events indeed for police and
physicians.

Seriously, if Rich Coleman - the minister responsible for gambling in
B.C. - can essentially argue B.C. can't beat them, so it is joining
them in the $100 million residents allegedly spent annually on
offshore gambling websites, why wouldn't he and the Liberals push for
the same when it comes to the question of marijuana?

Why? Because this is the way it has always been. Because Canada has a
prime minister who follows the failed U.S. war-on-drugs mantra in
lockstep, a leader who makes embarrassing comments, such as pointing
to the thousands of murders in Mexico as a reason not to legalize pot
- - somehow missing the fact those thousands of murders occur precisely
and only because pot and other drugs remain illegal.

Opponents often argue legalization will legitimize pot-smoking. Well,
why shouldn't it be legitimized?

Is there an iota of difference between a person unwinding after work
with a scotch and soda and a person unwinding after work with a joint,
aside from the fact our silly society labels the latter a criminal for
no apparent reason?

Opponents often charge legalization's road to legitimization will
result in more young people trying marijuana.

Baloney. Ask your average teenager to get you a case of Heineken and
ask another teenager to get you a bag of weed. Guess which one will
find it near impossible to deliver your goods?

That's because legalization has dropped the price of alcohol to levels
that have eliminated organized crime and the need to make your own,
while regulation has made it appropriately difficult for minors to get
their hands on booze.

Pot? It's everywhere.

It's more available illegal than it ever would be as a legal,
regulated substance.

In 2002, the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs called for the
legalization of marijuana, noting that prohibition of marijuana has
done little to reduce its use despite vast amounts of money spent on
law enforcement, that marijuana is not a gateway to harder drugs like
cocaine and heroin, that marijuana is not generally addictive (less
than 10 per cent of users become addicted) and that pot is less
harmful than alcohol.

The very fact marijuana is illegal is the reason organized crime,
violence and sky-high prices are part of the equation.

Add to that electrocutions and fires (caused when growers mess with
hydro connections) and one has to wonder why the powers-that-be cannot
see that legalization is the answer that makes the most sense.

. Chris Foulds is managing editor of Kamloops This Week, a Black Press
newspaper.