SMOKE SIGNALS FROM THE COAST

Leave it to cantankerous former Brian Mulroney-era cabinet minister
Pat Carney to let a well-kept B.C. secret out of the bag every now
and then. Senator Carney's sporadic forays back onto the national
political stage almost always revolve around her giving the grand
Pooh-Bahs back East a geography lesson.

The lesson passed on ad nauseam is to point out to the
standard-bearers of what passes for a government of all of Canada
these days, that there is a West Coast connected by land bridge to
the centre of the universe.

Snug in the belly of the beast, where the corridors of power zig and
zag like a snake alert to danger, through the board rooms and
alleyways of southern Ontario, it would appear that far too often
those making federal government decisions know next to nothing about
the various parts which comprise the whole.

So, news last week that the first crop of pot for the federal
government's supposed medical marijuana experiment turned out to be
"bad weed", for the purpose it was grown, does not come as much of a
surprise, considering the feds ignored the obvious and instead set up
a legal grow-op in Manitoba. That "obvious" thing which the feds
missed did not go unnoticed by the esteemed Senator from B.C. Carney,
who quite rightly pointed out that if you want some good weed in
Canada, British Columbia is where it's at.

Perhaps it's a bit presumptuous to expect the federal government of
Canada to know that B.C.'s underground marijuana-growing operations
are world famous and, if truth be known, are a huge boost to the
province's official, above-ground economy.

Perhaps the federal government is just too busy getting its MPs in
line, executing such clever moves as killing private members' bills
of honourable MPs, such as the Canadian Alliance's Esquimalt-based
representative Keith Martin. It must be so much more fun sticking it
to out-of-order MPs rather than addressing the issues, such as
marijuana decriminalization, head on. Or perhaps the federal
government just doesn't know what it's doing. It is too much, at this
point, to expect those with the power to foster change to stand up
and acknowledge that existing laws on the legality of substances for
personal consumption have no logical basis, and the ongoing war on
drugs should really be renamed the war on personal freedom.

Yet, if the federal government is really serious in at least easing
the restrictions on marijuana so that those who claim a medicinal use
- - such as many supplied through illegal compassion clubs which
operate in many major North American cities, including Victoria -
then get on with the job of supplying the stuff.

If there's a need to consult experts, then consult the real experts
out here in B.C. If need be, consult a map.