CANADA, LOOK TO AMERICA'S TRUCE IN THE DRUG WAR

On July 1, Connecticut will become the 14th American state to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, without going
so far as to legalize the drug. It is in no way fitting that the new
rules take effect on Canada Day. Canada continues to treat possession
of marijuana for personal use as a crime, and to waste government
resources on doing something about it.

It may surprise Canadians that so many states have moved to
decriminalize marijuana - handing out fines akin to speeding tickets.
At the state level, it has now become possible for legislators of both
parties in the United States to admit that the war on drugs has been a
costly failure.

It is a bit too early to speak of an emerging consensus south of the
border. But the voices being heard more often are those like Brenda
Kupchick, a Republican member of the state legislature: "I've known a
lot of people over my lifetime who've used marijuana, and who grew up
to be productive citizens and never used drugs again. And I know
people who took drugs out of their parents' medicine cabinet and
became full-blown drug addicts and lost their lives."

In Connecticut, possession of less than a half-ounce (30 joints) would
result in a $150 fine for a first offence, and between $200 and $500
on subsequent offences. Those 21 or under caught using marijuana will
lose their driver's licences for 60 days. In Alaska, possession of up
to one ounce of marijuana in a private home brings no penalty at all.
A set of U.S. studies has found that, when cannabis was
decriminalized, use did not rise any more than in states where
possession remained a crime.

Canada's possession laws are an expensive irrelevancy. In 2009, there
were 48,981 incidents of cannabis possession reported by police. While
there is no up-to-date estimate on the annual costs of enforcement, a
reputable 2002 study put them at $300-million. All this for a
"relatively harmless" drug, as the Ontario Court of Appeal has called
it. Canada has not even been able to get its act together to make
marijuana truly available for medicinal use, according to an Ontario
judge who has ordered Ottawa to fix the medical-marijuana law.

One might expect that some people in Connecticut will have quite a
celebration on Canada Day.