UP IN SMOKE

Why is Harper harshing our national buzz?

Remember when Canada was cool? Back, lo those many months ago in
September 2003 when, reacting to hep-cat legislation that proposed
legalizing same-sex marriage and decriminalizing possession of
marijuana, The Economist wrote in a cover story that "Canada is now
rather cool." The rest of the world slowly took notice, first when
our athletes at the 2004 summer Olympics were outfitted in The Beret
of The Games, compliments of Roots; even more so as indie bands from
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver caught the attention of Spin, The New
York Times and the producers of The OC. But over the course of the
last week, we've pretty much managed to trash that carefully
cultivated image as the trend-setter nation.

Exhibit A: Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Mexico on March 29. A
photo-op alongside US President George W. Bush is about as big a
stage as Harper ever gets, internationally, but while Bush and
Mexican President Vicente Fox were outfitted in matching white
linens, looking cool in Mexico's heat as they strolled among the
pyramids, Harper was wearing a khaki fishing vest with a whole lot of
pockets and a blue shirt that clashed with his brown pants. They say
you should dress for the job you want rather than the one you have:
apparently Harper wants a supporting role on The Red Green Show.

Our extreme dweeb makeover continued apace on Sunday, at the Juno
Awards in Halifax. In a year when our hot indie bands have become, to
some extent, North America's hot indie bands, who would take home the
biggest armload of prizes? Broken Social Scene? The Arcade Fire?
Feist? The New Pornographers? No siree. The Junos celebrated the
reheated schlock of Michael Buble (he was that annoying misfit kid
who always sang Sinatra songs in a suit too big for him at your
high-school talent show).

Finally, and most damningly, we enter into evidence a story from the
front page of the Toronto Star on Monday headlined "Police crack down
on marijuana users."

Apparently, the election of the Conservative government has
semi-permanently shelved plans to decriminalize possession of small
amounts of marijuana. As a result, cops across the land who'd been
taking a look-away approach to pot possession in anticipation of the
new law are back out there throwing the book at tokers, including,
the Star points out, Brian Fitzpatrick, a man who's been using
marijuana to treat epilepsy symptoms for years and now faces charges.

This does worse than just cementing our lock on national nerdiness.
The criminalization of pot is bad policy: it's unjust, expensive and
doesn't accomplish what it sets out to do.

Need we go over all of this again? Marijuana is a mostly harmless
drug, especially as compared with other legal substances such as
alcohol and tobacco. As a recreational relaxant, its main effect is
to mellow out smokers, making them peaceful, docile and a bit lazy.
As a medical supplement, its painkilling effects are well-recognized,
even by the Supreme Court of Canada.

What's more, use of marijuana is astoundingly common. Just over one
in seven Canadians report using marijuana currently, and nearly half
have used it at one time or another. Among the high-profile people
across the continent who have admitted to committing the crime of
marijuana possession are Belinda Stronach, Paul Martin, Kim Campbell,
Stockwell Day, Pierre Trudeau, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And yet many pot smokers are locked up for their smoking: 600,000
Canadians have criminal records for simple possession of marijuana.
An estimated 1,500 people a year serve time behind bars for
possession. And prosecuting them costs about $150 million per year.

The decriminalization efforts of the former Liberal government were
overdue and sensible. If we had any sense as a nation, they would
have been a first step to the outright legalization of pot. Harper's
position against this sensible policy is more than just nerdy. It's a
menace to many good citizens. What the hell has he been smoking?