MR. HARPER'S MARIJUANA PIPE DREAM

Coincidental with word that a British Columbia seed company has won
second place at the annual High Times Cannabis Cup in the
Netherlands, comes news of a speech delivered by Prime Minister
Stephen Harper in Vancouver defending Canada's get-tough laws against
the use of that drug.

The two countries could hardly have different approaches to how to
deal with the problem of drugs. Both agree that drug use is a
definite problem, just as the abuse of alcohol and tobacco is a
problem. In Holland, however, the sale and use of marijuana and
hashish are controlled and regulated -- one does not need to go to
the Mob to buy, for example, Hydra, the hashish that was crossbred
between the strains Warlock and Haoma and brought the silver medal to
Canada this week.

To even be able to discuss cannabis products in such terms is an
indication of how far the industry has come from sordid exchanges in
back alleys and dark streets in many civilized countries.

But not in Canada, as Mr. Harper made clear in Vancouver. Mr. Harper
reaffirmed his government's intention to stiffen penalties for
dealing in marijuana and other drugs, defending it by saying: "Drugs
are not bad because they are illegal. They are illegal because they are bad."

They are, he said, "corrosive to society" and they" do terrible
things to people."

Mr. Harper is right on all those counts, but one could make the same
argument about coffee, cinnamon doughnuts or whiskey. Anything can be
bad, corrosive or terrible to people who take it without moderation.
So while the prime minister may be right on what are essentially the
small points, he continues to avoid the main point -- that while
drugs such as marijuana might be bad, making them illegal creates
problems that are far worse.

Mr. Harper at least nodded at this truth when he said "I know (the
drug trade) fuels a lot of criminal activity" but he is resolute in
his intent to push through legislation that will fuel that activity
even more fiercely, even though all the evidence indicates that
tougher penalties don't diminish either drug use or crime associated with it.

In fact, the regulation of marijuana would accomplish precisely what
the prime minister says he wants to accomplish -- reduce the social
ills created by drug use, get rid of the criminal element and, not
incidentally, funnel the billions of dollars now going to organized
crime into government programs for the people. Those are not bad
results for a simple act of common sense.