POT LAWS 'MUST CHANGE'

Contrary to recent statements by the U.S. administration, the largest
source of imported marijuana in the U.S. is Mexico, not Canada,
according to the RCMP.

Mexican pot exports are at least 27 times higher than Canadian pot
exports and perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of the pot
consumed in the U.S. is produced in the U.S., according to this same
RCMP report.

We have had decade after decade of enforcing our U.S.-fashioned drug
laws and waiting for the promised results. What do we have to show for
all those years of enforcement and tax dollars? More Canadians are
using marijuana than ever. More Canadians are growing marijuana than
ever.

The real problem with our marijuana laws and the weak and inadequate
Liberal decriminalization bill is our abdication of regulatory control
and tax revenue from marijuana. In the face of bold new evidence and
reports such as the Senate committee report, the Fraser Institute
report and recent Statistics Canada figures, it is time Canadian
legislators turned their ears away from the needs of the White House
and toward what is best for the Canadian people.

Regulation would allow us to keep marijuana out of the hands of
children, using the tools to restrict sales to minors. Our current
approach clearly has not worked. In 2002, a Senate committee
unanimously concluded Canada should regulate and tax marijuana, treat
it as a public health issue and not a criminal issue, and that
marijuana is significantly less harmful than alco hol or tobacco.

A recent Statistics Canada study revealed that more than 10 million
Canadians have used marijuana and that more than three million
regularly use it. With numbers such as these, we simply cannot afford
to continue to take damaging domestic policy recommendations from the
United States.

The U.S. has nothing to offer us in the way of constructive solutions
to our marijuana laws. Canada must legalize marijuana, regulate it,
tax it and treat it the same as we do alcohol or tobacco. I strongly
urge all legislators to take advantage of this opportunity to pass a
strong piece of legislation that would legalize marijuana and stop
encouraging the illicit sale and production of this drug in Canada.