CALIFORNIA'S SOUND PROPOSITION

The people of California should support ground-breaking legislation
to de-criminalize marijuana. It is time to acknowledge that the
current system of prohibition has failed to put a dent in its use,
despite billions of dollars a year in anti-cannabis law enforcement.

California's Proposition 19, while not perfect, will permit people
who are 21 years and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and
cultivate small amounts of the plant.

There is no research to show that decriminalizing marijuana will lead
to an increase in use, as some claim. In fact, in the Netherlands,
where marijuana has been sold in coffee shops since the 1970s, about
20 per cent of the adult population has tried it, compared with 42
per cent of adult Americans.

The real criminal act is to incarcerate people for smoking a
substance which has medicinal benefits, and is less addictive and
poses less overall harm than either alcohol or tobacco. Keeping the
production, sale and distribution of marijuana illegal also ensures
that the market remains in the hands of criminal organizations,
allowing them to build criminal empires from the proceeds.

Critics of Proposition 19, which goes to voters Nov. 2, say it has
legal problems and will create regulatory difficulties because it
allows each of California's 478 cities and 58 counties to develop its
own rules on growing, possessing, distributing and taxing the drug.
Marijuana will also remain illegal under federal law.

The initiative, however, is an important acknowledgment of the
legitimacy of the debate around marijuana decriminalization, a reform
now endorsed by everyone from the College of Physicians in Britain,
to Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, and George
Soros, the billionaire philanthropist. Canada also contemplated
decriminalizing marijuana under the Chretien government. The
initiative never passed, and the Conservatives have adopted a more
conventional strategy, supporting the war on drugs.

As that approach fails to stop escalating violence and crime
associated with the illegal trade, or to result in a decrease in use,
a growing number of jurisdictions are contemplating alternatives to
prohibition. California can show leadership, by embracing a more
enlightened option.