THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

Although the Fraser Institute comes up with some ridiculous data at times
to back up its mandate, this week's study outlining why Canadian
governments should make marijuana legal and reap the billions of dollars
realized in taxes simply makes economic sense.

Certainly you could listen to the wild claims by some who still believe
marijuana to be evil incarnate, but you could also park your car and buy a
horse and buggy.

Several recent reports, including Senate and Parliamentary reports in
recent years, note that more than million Canadian adults regularly indulge
in a relaxing toke.

Again and again, medical and other experts in Canada and in the United
States, where pot laws vary wildly, point out that more people consume
alcohol and tobacco and both of those present greater health threats.

The study's author Stephen Easton says that, as with alcohol prohibition,
it will be close to impossible to suppress cannabis use - the market is
there and it's steady.

Some argue that legalizing weed would not deter organized crime and would
invoke the wrath of the Americans, yet Dutch experience shows that neither
Holland nor Europe have collapsed under a giant cloud of smoke.

Conservatives, who normally applaud greater individual freedoms and less
government intervention, paradoxically promote a troubling hard line that
increasingly erodes individual rights, and encourages to citizens to tattle
on each other. Now local governments are imposing bylaws in an area where
they don't have jurisdiction, and which will cost the taxpayer, yet again.

It seems the harder we try to crush marijuana culture, the stronger it
springs back and the deeper its roots go into a black market.

Easton said alcohol prohibition served only to expand organized crime in
North America. While the end of prohibition generated some problems, they
were nothing compared to those afflicted on society during the days of Al
Capone, he said. Hasn't history repeated itself?

With so many voices coming from diverse sectors of our society, our leaders
have to listen and start to plan for a Canada where cannabis is legal, safe
and regulated. While Easton's estimates of B.C.'s pot industry at $7
billion seems a little rich, there's no doubt a regulated industry would be
a better option to what we have today.