THE WEED CRISIS

Canada's respected Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) force was brought
to its knees last week with the murder of four officers at the hands of a
disturbed sociopath. The tradegy in Alberta conjured up feelings of intense
sorrow, anger and a desire for justice.

The issue was especially touchy because the officers were investigating a
marijuana grow operation. It generated debate across the country with
regard to the wisdom of Canada's marijuana policy -- and the Liberal Party
of Canada's bi-annual convention held this past weekend was no exception.

The shootings appear to have been, according to some observers, exploited
by both the pro and anti-marijuana camps. Even before the bodies of the
RCMP officers had been retrieved, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan was
before the cameras raving about how we must impose harsher penalties for
grow-ops.

With all due respect to the minister, the notion is ridiculous. The penalty
for killing a police officer is 25 years in prison with no parole. Hosting
a grow-op is usually around 5-10 years. Somehow I don't think having more
severe grow-op penalties would've deterred this criminal in the slightest.

The unfortunate death of these officers illustrates more clearly than ever
how ludicrous our prohibition laws are. Why were these men killed chasing
down a guy growing relatively harmless plants when there are murderers and
rapists on the loose? Wasting the time of the police on marijuana-busting
is an insult to their uniform and we should liberalize our drug laws right
away.

A policy proposal at the Liberal convention -- ultimately taken off the
table in favour of a more popular policy of decriminalized prostitution --
would have seen marijuana legalized and sold in a manner similar to
alcohol. Opinion on the issue within the Liberals is diverse: Treasury
Board President Reg Alcock has called for the legalization of marijuana
while Dan McTeague, parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, is campaigning against even the decriminalization of tiny amounts
of marijuana.

The Conservatives consistently argue for tougher penalties on marijuana
grow-ops while the NDP completely support legalization of this plant.

The potential Liberal policy argued that if the government regulated and
sold the drug, it would put the grow-ops out of business and possibly reap
annual tax revenues to the tune of $3 billion, as well as eliminating the
roughly $400-$500 million we spend each year enforcing marijuana prohibition.

Using marijuana decreases reaction time and impairs judgment and that is
precisely the reason why driving under the influence of this drug should be
treated just as driving under the influence of alcohol is.

There are always ways around the dangers. When one Liberal at the
convention was warning the audience about the negative health effects of
smoking marijuana, another person yelled out, "Eat brownies!"

A 2002 report from the Canadian Senate said that the current system of
prohibition in Canada does not work and should be replaced by a regulated
system that would focus on illegal trafficking, prevention programs and
respecting individual and collective freedoms.

Legalization will not only make it safer for users but it will clear the
name of the estimated 600,000 Canadians who have been convicted of simple
cannabis possession. Similar to what it does for cigarettes, the government
should finance research on drugs and on prevention and treatment programs,
financed by taxes on the sale of legal marijuana.

The time for change is now.