JUST A MATTER OF TIME

Now that the smoke has cleared from the marijuana legalization vote in
California, it's obvious the real issue in the drug war, as in
Afghanistan, is an exit strategy.

For the first time since the cannabis prohibition was imposed nearly a
century ago, a rational, evidence-based debate is occurring and change
is coming.

The Proposition 19 fight in the media began as a Cheech-and-Chong
joke.

But by the time it ended, the question was no longer whether to
legalize but how to legalize -- the proposition failed because many
who are anti-prohibition thought it was a bad model.

They slowed growing momentum for the proposition and sealed its fate
with the quick passage of law making pot possession equivalent to a
parking ticket and a plea not to support the initiative because it was
badly framed.

Proposition 19 failed for a variety of reasons, but its narrow defeat
(53.9 per cent against) heralds the pragmatic end of
prohibition.

Richard Lee, a firebrand activist from Oakland, put up $1.4 million to
get the proposition on the ballot, but real money failed to arrive.

Unions, civil rights groups and police officers supported it and their
participation transformed the discussion.

Without the 11th-hour less-than-a-misdemeanour law and the president
drawing a line in the sand -- pulling out all the stops to have his
anti-prohibition Hollywood supporters like Bill Maher back off -- the
proposition might have succeeded.

Politicians can no longer dismiss calls for legalization as some kind
of stoner joke.

There is talk of putting a similar proposition on ballots in Oregon,
Washington and other states in the next election, and of the
Democratic party actually embracing legalization as a platform plank.

This sea change has occurred as a result of recent medical research on
the efficacy of cannabis as part of the pharmacopoeia and the growing
global experience with legalization.

"I think it's time for a debate," outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
said. "And I think that we ought to study very carefully what other
countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs,
what effect it had on those countries, and if they are happy with that
decision."

Portugal, for instance, beat Canada out for a seat on the UN Security
Council even though it bucked U.S. pressure and decriminalized illicit
drugs in 2001.

Possession became OK, the sky did not fall and the country is
happy.

In fact, the evidence over the last decade shows decriminalization is
a far better approach to dealing with drugs than our current criminal
ban, which creates more problems and more harm than cannabis use. It
is the opposite of Ottawa's plan of stiffening criminal drug penalties.

The Portuguese experience confirms that while there were small
increases in adult use, they were less significant than the reduction
in drug use among young people and the major reductions in health-care
costs from far fewer opiate-related deaths and infections.

Of course, the policy also reduced some huge costs on law enforcement
and the criminal justice system associated with the
prohibition.

Still, it did not eliminate all drug-related problems.

The Portuguese believe they are on the right track but say they may
not yet have the best model and that more nuanced approaches might
lead to even better outcomes.

But the bottom line is that country's political class believes
legalization has numerous benefits and reduces the damage drug use
causes.

Canadians and Americans need to get on the same page.

Decriminalization isn't the full answer, in my opinion, because it
makes life easier for the users but doesn't address the problem of
trafficking and organized crime.

Legalization, regulation and taxation are required -- and that's the
main reason black market profiteers were opposing Proposition 19.

Regardless, these are all questions and issues we need to
address.

Proposition 19 didn't fail; it was a success if the goal was to get
people talking about marijuana and other drugs like adults. Maybe the
sophomoric members of the media will take note and end the pun-driven
snigger coverage that dominates: "Legalization campaign up in smoke."

Fattie chance of that.