LIGHTENING UP ON CANNABIS USE

There is nothing too terribly damaging in inhaling an occasional puff
of marijuana smoke into your lungs.

Premier Ernie Eves has admitted to doing it when he was tad younger
than he is now. Energy Minister Chris Stockwell did it too -- and look
where it has gotten him. Heck, even you (along with 48 per cent of the
Canadian adult population) may have tried pot.

So why an English storm over the issue? There, the government has
announced its intention to lighten up on cannabis and its many users.
It's not going to go so far as to legalize the stuff, but it is going
to make it sort of OK to carry a reefer or two in your pants pocket or
perhaps even behind your ear. What it is still not going to declare OK
is to grow, market or otherwise distribute the stuff.

So what is the message? It is the same message that a parliamentary
committee on this side of the pond which has been studying this issue
(at least we think that's what they've been doing with it) has been
passing along unofficially and perhaps unwittingly. It is that
marijuana is not the worst substance you can put into your body, but
it's certainly not the best either. It is that distributing marijuana
is not what nice people do, and that growing it is still very naughty.

Of course, few people get arrested anymore either in England or in
Canada for simple marijuana possession (there are simply too many
simple possessors to bother with) though police still have that little
option in their arsenal. But people do get busted for dealing the
drug, and people who turn agricultural skills to cultivating it can
expect an unpleasant call from the police at some point in their careers.

The question is: Where will the now-freer simple possessors get their
supply? The answer is that they will naturally continue to get it from
illegal dealers. Dealers will acquire it from illegal pot-growers or
importers, and the ring-leaders (who the police will try very hard to
catch) will continue to risk arrest to rake in their mountains of
tax-free cash.

A lot of issues could certainly be addressed by simply licensing
growers (marijuana is now Ontario's third largest cash crop),
establishing authorized and controlled distributorships and having the
stuff packaged, sold and taxed (like cigarettes) on the retail market.
But neither English, Canadian and especially not U.S. legislators seem
prepared to take that bold and admittedly politically-risky step just
yet.

So we will continue to assign police to the dangerous (and costly)
task of putting growers out of business and tracking down dealers.
We'll also continue to suffer the ill effects of massive thefts of
hydro-electric power by illegal marijuana-growing operators.

This is nuts. This is also considered the political way it has to be.
Indeed, the next step in this curious process (as recommended to both
the Ontario legislature and Hamilton city council) may be to grant
utilities the power to place liens on properties where illegal grow
operations have sapped electrical power without paying for it.

The measure may help Ontario's privatized power companies defray the
cost of the thefts (now running at an estimated $500 million a year
across the province). It will also ease them into the real estate
business. What it won't do is supply a large and growing market with
what it really wants -- a legitimate and reliable supply of domestic
pot