DECRIMINALIZATION WON'T MAKE THE GRASS GREENER

So it looks like pot smokers, those modern day pariahs who are ceaselessly
hunted across the nation by a large network of elite and brutal law
enforcement officers will finally be able to emerge from their hidden
shelters, thanks to our new enlightened policy of marijuana
decriminalization. Well, not quite.

Despite the publicity that the current legislation has been attracting,
it's unlikely that your average tea head will notice much difference
whether or not the legislation is passed.

Smoking the J has become so widespread and accepted that the laws in place
are used more often as an excuse to arrest someone who has caused problems
for the police than to act as any type of deterrence. This is good, because
all justification for prohibiting the drug has become hopelessly
anachronistic. Some will still charge that weed is a 'gateway drug' leading
to a coke-addled lifestyle of crime, prostitution and ritual murder.

I'll acknowledge that many drug addicts likely started out by smoking bud,
but then many religious extremists surely started out by taking theology
lessons. Most of us can manage our dosage.

The media seem to have seized on the subject because it's about the only
thing happening in Parliament outside of party leadership races and Liberal
infighting. The debate on the issue dried up pretty quickly and shifted to
arguments over how much of a 'spike' we'll see in usage rates once the
legislation passes.

My vote's for nil. It will be even more illegal to sell cannabis, so John
Q. Dealer hasn't suddenly been given a free hand to cruise for experimental
moppets at the local playground.

The irony of the bill is that it's likely to increase the number of people
squeezed by the long arm of the law for smoking a spliff.

Right now, a lot of officers turn the other cheek or let people off with a
warning when they catch them toking, because it's not worth the hassle of
laying charges. Many officers surely light up after work, and without
charges laid there's really no need to waste the Evidence Department's time
by passing on anything that's been confiscated. When the punishment is a
mere fine, officers will be much more likely to take action, especially
when monthly quotas are inevitably implemented.

What we should be most concerned about is what most people would argue we
should be least concerned about: the American reaction.

Some people start frothing at the mouth at the mere suggestion that we let
our sacrosanct sovereignty be sullied by taking American interests into
consideration, but that won't change reality.

The reality is that American politicians have to answer to American voters,
and American voters expect a response when the country they already see as
Amsterdam North gives them the finger when they express concern that more
liberalized drug laws in our courts could lead to more dope in their streets.

If the Liberals hadn't been actively pursuing the systematic destruction of
our relations with the US over the past several months, we likely could
have passed this new law with little fuss. A little oblique rhetoric about
ensuring that our border infrastructure has adapted to new realities would
have at least assured most Americans that we were doing something, even if
we just chained up a few retired drug sniffing dogs outside our border
posts. As it stands the US now feels compelled to tighten up the border,
and that can only harm our economy.

But hell, if some Canadians lose their jobs as a result, at least they'll
have something a little less illegal to do to pass the time.