GOING TO POT

THE murder of four RCMP officers in Alberta has spawned a national debate
on the issue of marijuana cultivation and its use, and forced the Liberals
to shelve for the moment plans to decriminalize possession of small amounts
of the drug.

That pause could be a positive starting point for reassessment of our pot
laws. While we are supportive of efforts to legalize pot possession for
personal adult use (but with penalties for driving under its influence), we
were never fans of the Liberals' wishy-washy approach.

With Bill C-38 in place, we envisaged cops writing pot tickets much like
they write traffic tickets: partly for deterrence, but also because they
can and because it raises money to pay for more policing.

The Liberals have also proposed strengthening penalties for marijuana
cultivation, doubtless to quiet U.S. critics. Of course, there are
penalties in place already - although looking at sentencing would suggest
there is no court will to have them applied in a meaningful way.

But the problem with a draconian approach to punishing pot growers is
twofold. Firstly, it is already proven that prohibition does not work.
Secondly, the so-called mom and pop operations would fold in the face of
severe risk and the remaining element of free-enterprise pot cultivation
would fall into the hands of organized crime. Legalization advocates argue
a different end result. Perhaps it is time to debate how to take organized
crime out of pot-growing, not pot laws.