WANT TO SEE CRIMINAL DOPE PROCEEDS GO UP IN SMOKE?

The new Conservative government in Ottawa is right on track in
hinting they'll not pursue the previous administration's plans to
decriminalize marijuana. In fact, they should go one step further.

Legalize it.

This is not a plea to liberalize attitudes towards the use of the
drug so much as a suggestion legalization may help to fight, if not
eliminate, the criminal activity that surrounds it.

When it comes to pot, there are certain undeniable truths. First is
this: People have always smoked dope and they always will. The second
is that the value of marijuana, like petroleum and other tightly
controlled substances, is directly affected by the quantity available
and the demand for it.

Criminals take over houses in our neighbourhoods and fill them with
marijuana plants because there are people lining up to buy illicit
weed. No amount of hand-wringing and tough-talking will change that.
The police have been fighting a losing battle against marijuana since
the day it was outlawed and they will continue to, especially if
there's a renewed call to crack down on simple possession. Arrests
may rise, but is the burden placed on the police and courts in
dealing with these petty crimes worth it?

Want to cut bikers and other gangsters out of the production and
trafficking of pot? Eliminate the middle man. Allowing law-abiding
Canadians to grow their own -- say, a couple plants, maximum -- could
go a long way toward doing so.

Controls would have to be put in place, of course. Legalized dope
shouldn't be allowed until there's an effective way of testing
drivers for marijuana impairment, for instance, and no one under the
age of majority should be permitted to use it. Marijuana, like booze,
should not be possessed outside of one's residence.

And the feds should keep trafficking and large-scale production of
marijuana on the books as a serious crime to address concerns about
gang involvement.

Sounds simplistic, but it makes sense. Legalization of marijuana
could free up the police, the Crowns and the courts to pursue the
purveyors of destructive drugs such as cocaine, heroin,
methamphetamine and ecstasy.

Canadian society as we know it will not crumble if we chuck
antiquated laws and attitudes towards marijuana. What may be
adversely affected are criminal profits from the stuff.