POT PROHIBITION NOT WORKING

Here we go again with the heavy hand of prohibition slammed down by
the federal government.

Stephen Harper's new $64-million dollar war on drugs - otherwise known
as the National Anti-Drug Strategy - is having a hard time slipping
quietly under the radar.

But with an exorbitant price tag and an undeniably similar crackdown
to our neighbour, the United States, it feels like the feds' new
anti-drug strategy is more of a political nod to the south than an
actual campaign for change.

Touting it as a formula for the mixed messages Canadian politicians
have been sending over marijuana use in our country, Harper's strategy
has a two track system.

Focusing two thirds of the funding on prevention and treatment. The
rest of the funding goes straight into law enforcement, border
crackdown, busting grow-ops, meth labs and tough new legislation for
drug producers and sellers.

May sound like a good plan but unfortunately it seems like the hardest
hit are the Canadian pot users.

A recent UN study shows that Canadian pot use is four times that of
the global rate and the highest in the industrialized world.

Since the Conservatives took office, the number of arrests for simple
possession of marijuana has skyrocketed from 20 to 50 per cent.

A far cry from the Liberal bill which would have seen small amounts of
marijuana decriminalized under Canadian law.

As far as I can tell, cracking down on pot users - who may otherwise
be known as generally law-abiding citizens - is a renewed attempt at
marijuana prohibition.

Maybe Canadians are not ready for full legalization of the ancient
herb but all signs point to prohibition nurturing organized crime
rather than combatting it.

This idea is examined in the book, Bud Inc. Inside Canada's Marijuana
Industry by author and journalist Ian Mulgrew.

In Mulgrew's book, Stephen Easton, senior scholar for the Fraser
Institute and economics professor at Simon Fraser University,
estimated that marijuana was Canada's most valuable agricultural
product. Easton predicted that Canadian cannabis consumers annually
spent $1.8 billion on pot - just shy of tobacco expenditure at $2.3
billion.

Imagine the tax boon inherited nationally if government took control
of the sought-after agricultural commodity.

Easton and Mulgrew also share the idea that marijuana revenue is
sustaining organized crime syndicates and allowing them to produce and
distribute more harmful substances.

"It is a real source of enormous amounts of revenue for criminal
organizations," said Easton in the book.

Prohibition didn't work in the '20s with alcohol and it's not working
now with marijuana.

With prohibition comes profitability - which means if one grow op goes
out of business, there are plenty others to take its place.

Prohibition is not the answer.

It is time for the feds to try a new strategy - or at least look into
something that works.