LET'S NOT GO TO POT

We hope delegates to the national Liberal convention will resist the
urge to use the police murders in Alberta as an excuse to legalize
marijuana.

They are going to be tempted to do just that by the party's youth wing
(no surprise there), as well as by former senator and onetime leader
of the Alberta Liberals Nick Taylor, who ought to know better.

Taylor argues that legalizing pot could prevent tragic events such as
the one where four RCMP officers were ambushed and murdered when they
went to investigate a marijuana grow operation.

Prohibition, whether for alcohol, tobacco or marijuana, doesn't work,
says Taylor. "I'm not saying that the four men would be alive if we
had legalized marijuana, but I suspect they might be."

With thinking like that, we have to wonder whether Taylor himself has
been lighting up the odd toke.

Let's stand back from the tragedy and recognize the drug business is a
massive criminal operation in Canada that needs to be dealt with.

Gangs convert homes, warehouses and farm fields into drug factories
that turn out product worth millions of dollars, and they are willing
to go to any lengths to protect them.

The answer to that isn't to legalize the product, but to crank up
enforcement and penalties to either drive people out of the business
or lock them up.

That means not only giving police the resources they need to root out
and arrest the criminals, but also judicial reforms to ensure there
are consequences to breaking the law.

Penalties that see drug producers and dealers walk in the front door
and out the back of our jails have to be replaced with penalties that
fit the crime.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan, at least, is on the right track.
She says she'll consider tougher penalties for marijuana grow
operations and added she and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler will review
their proposed marijuana decriminalization bill to see if it goes far
enough in dealing with growers.

RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli went further, suggesting it's
time not just to crack down on grow ops, but also to re-examine the
idea of decriminalizing simple possession of small amounts of pot.

"We don't solve anything in society by legalizing things or by
pretending they're not harmful to society," Zaccardelli said.

Whether or not you agree with Zaccardelli's assessment of
decriminalization, it's patently obvious the direction Canada's drug
laws are headed must be seriously re-examined in the wake of the
murders of these four brave men.