EDITORIAL: CANADA COULD BE WORLD LEADER

We disagree with the federal government's prohibitionist approach to
dealing with marijuana, which has utterly failed to reduce the supply of,
or demand for, the drug. Successive governments have spent billions
enforcing the law, and organized crime has reaped billions in profits from
trade in marijuana and other illicit drugs. Pot laws have made criminals
out of pot smokers and have allowed organized crime, and violence, to flourish.

It was for these reasons the LeDain Commission recommended 30 years ago
that Canada end the legal prohibition on marijuana possession. And it was
for these reasons that the Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs recommended in
2002 that trade in marijuana be legalized and regulated.

Countries have failed to consider legalization for a number of reasons and
most Western nations are signatories to international conventions that
require them to maintain legal proscriptions against trade in marijuana.

Many countries recognize the folly of the war on drugs and are open to
discussing legalization and regulation. Canada has already taken some novel
approaches to deal with drug abuse: the possible decriminalization of
marijuana through the new bill before Parliament; a supervised injection
site for heroin addicts in Vancouver and the North American Opiate
Medication Initiative, in which Vancouver and several Canadian cities are
participating.

By developing a national strategy on drugs, Canada could gather and
disseminate the effects of these novel approaches to drug use. In concert
with the many European nations taking similar steps, Canada could take a
leading role in prompting discussion about alternatives to marijuana
prohibition. We need to start with a commitment from Ottawa to develop such
a strategy and to communicate the results of its work to the world.

The world is not losing the war on marijuana: It's a war we've already
lost. Canada can help to unify the globe in its efforts to minimize the
harms caused not only by drugs, but by drug laws.

- - The Vancouver Sun