PROHIBITION PAST ITS TIME

The war on pot is in full force in Abbotsford, but the time for a ceasefire
is coming.

This week Abbotsford police chief Ian Mackenzie was granted his request by
the city council for 15 more officers to keep the peace. The police
department's budget will be $23 million.

No doubt these new resources will sniff out marijuana cultivation and send
the proprietors to court. The officers will also be enforcing a soon-to-come
city bylaw requiring those growers to pay for policing costs.

I don't begrudge the police department a penny of the increase, although I
can't help but think their talents, courage and efforts are wasted. I know
some of them agree with me.

The officers could be using their considerable skills combating real crime:
child pornography, spousal and child assault, theft and those making and
selling the truly destructive drugs, if it were not for marijuana
prohibition.

As long as the nation's laws and politicians continue to preserve the
prohibition of marijuana, communities such as ours will continue to struggle
in the trench warfare.

However, the winds of changes are blowing softly around the world.

Changes are going on in Canada, Europe and even the United States. European
countries are looking to Holland, which decriminalized pot in 1976, and see
that it has not collapsed into utter ruin. Millions of folks, including many
of my friends who have successful lives, enjoy a toke once in a while just
as others enjoy a glass of wine or beer, without falling into depravity.

In Britain a bill was introduced this fall to "decriminalize" pot, similar
to what the Canadian Senate and the standing committee on non-prescription
drugs both recommended this year.

In the U.S. more courts are declining to punish pot possessors and growers,
more medical marijuana legislation is being set up and more research funding
is earmarked to study the herb. A project at a Massachusetts university is
supported by Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Some politicians are pointing out that the billions of dollars in police,
court and prison resources have not suffocated the marijuana market.

It is true that while Canadian lawmakers are looking to decriminalize
possession they are also suggesting tougher sentences for growers. It's
doubtful this completely illogical strategy will last. That move would keep
pot as a black market commodity alongside hard drugs, keeping it under the
control of organized crime.

Like most wars, the war on pot was based on fear and greed, this one
fostered by American tycoons Randolph Hearst and the Dupont family who
wanted to corner the market on wood pulp and a new product called
"plastics."

Imagine life with no prohibition. Abbotsford police would not waste
resources chasing down unsafe grow-ops because pot could be cultivated like
other crops in greenhouses. The courts and prisons would have a few less
customers. Products would be regulated, taxed and sold to those over 18,
like alcohol. Lower prices and legal competition would mean organized crime
would lose interest and drop out of the business. All of these happened when
the prohibition on booze was lifted.

In addition, those with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other diseases
would be able to find some relief from their suffering without cloak and
dagger moves to obtain pot. There may even be a fewer less young men lying
in our morgues, dead from gun battles over territory.