End prohibition, legalize marijuana: Libs’youth

Page 38 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH21 – MARCH27, 2005 GUEST COLUMN By DAN ARNOLD and ROBBIE SCHUETT

Over the past number of days, Canadians and the national media have started to take a sober second look at Canada’s policy on illegal drugs—particularly marijuana. Earlier this month, on behalf of the Liberal Party’s Alberta wing, we presented a policy in support of legalizing marijuana at the Liberal Party’s national convention in Ottawa. It was our belief that this is a long overdue measure that the Government of Canada must act upon.

The recent tragic events in our home province have only reinforced our opinion.

We are fully aware that there was a lot more to the Mayerthorpe murders than a marijuana grow-op. However, the incident has propelled the debate over Canadian drug laws to the kitchen tables, coffee shops and front pages of Canada.

While we fully support stricter penalties for those who run grow-ops in the short-term, the only way to eliminate illegal grow-ops in the long-term is to legalize marijuana. When alcohol prohibition was lifted, the rum-runners and bootleggers lost a market. The same thing will happen to today’s drug dealers and grow operators once marijuana is legalized. Our national Young Liberal President Richard Diamond drew this connection when he observed, “We need serious regulations on marijuana so that this kind of violence and this kind of black market will cease. By lifting marijuana prohibition, the government has a chance to deliver a body blow to organized crime in Canada.”

Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana call it a gateway drug, claiming that pot smokers move on to more dangerous drugs. But let’s look at why this might be true. When people, especially young people, buy marijuana from a dealer, it isn’t long before they get gently nudged on to harder stuff. If the government is handling the distribution of marijuana, it’s a fairly safe bet that they’re not going to be running “buy 20 joints, get a gram of cocaine free!” promotions.

By ending marijuana prohibition, we would be closing this gate and we would see a reduction in hard drug use in Canada. In 2002,a Senate committee concluded that legalized marijuana would lead to a reduction in use, because the government could regulate supply, price and sales. A lot has been accomplished in the last decade to cut smoking rates among minors. By employing a similar strategy with marijuana we would gradually see a decline in the rate of underage pot use.

There are also financial benefits to be had. The marijuana industry is, at the very least, a $7-billion to $10-billion-a-year business in Canada. The Fraser Institute estimates that legalizing marijuana would generate at least $2-billion a year in tax revenue for the government.

The government should take a second look at this lucrative source of revenue— as grassroots Liberal Party members have. In addition to supporting priorities such as health care, education and tax reduction, these revenues could be used for drug awareness and other law enforcement priorities.

There is nothing radical about this proposal. Senate and House of Commons committees have advocated for a loosening of marijuana laws. Canada has already legalized compassionate use. A recent SES poll found 53 per cent of Canadians support marijuana legalization while only 37 per cent oppose it. Canada’s current decriminalization effort is a step in the right direction but the industry will still be in the hands of organized crime rather than the far more capable hands of regulators and legitimate business.

Last week, Treasury Board President Reg Alcock came out in support of legalized marijuana, adding that: “If we actually wanted to break the back of organized crime, we would be better off to control it. When you have these things underground, what you end up fuelling is organized crime.”

The war on drugs isn’t working. Police officers in cities across Canada are being put in harm’s way each day to stamp out weeds. They admit they will never be able to keep up and the risks to their health and safety are increasing.

Our choices are clear. We can continue to pour more money into this losing battle or adopt a new made-in-Canada strategy that reduces the harm associated with current drug use and production. Ending marijuana prohibition was the right thing to do a decade ago, it was the right thing to do a month ago, and, more than ever, it remains the right thing to do today.

Dan Arnold is the policy chair of the Alberta Young Liberals and Robbie Schuett is the President of the University of Calgary Liberal Association (UCLA). They cowrote and presented a policy to legalize marijuana at the Liberal Party Biennial Convention. This policy was passed by a large percentage of the delegates.
The Hill Times