IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE POT

It's enough for a big thumbs up ... or a big light up, if you prefer.

Canada should legalize marijuana use by adults, a Senate committee
recommended Wednesday. The report comes on the heels of a two-year study of
public policy relating to pot.

The present system of prohibition on marijuana just doesn't work, the
committee found. Obviously, the committee learned something from early
20th-century history, when alcohol was prohibited in the United States.
Then, prohibition simply gave gangsters a product to move and people to shoot.

Instead of the current system that penalizes people for having small
quantities of pot on them, there should instead be a regulated system for
marijuana, perhaps like our current system for alcohol, the committee
determined.

"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is
substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a
criminal issue but as a social and health issue," said Senator Pierre
Claude Nolin, the committee chair.

It's true that taking pot still involves the harmful intake of smoke, which
the committee recognized. But, as the committee pointed out, it's more of a
health issue than anything else.

In addition, making pot legal would clear the way for our police to tackle
other, more harmful crimes relating to the public good. Really, would you
rather see a pot smoker or a child molester behind bars?

Whether the federal government will ever adopt the Senate recommendations
is up in the air. Hopefully the feds won't throw up a smokescreen on this
to cloud the issue, and goes ahead with legalization.