cannabisnews.com: Waiting to Inhale!





Waiting to Inhale!
Posted by FoM on May 01, 1999 at 07:20:14 PT
Source: Map Inc.
"Who cares?" That was the reaction of most Canadians when Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and his NDP counterpart, Howard Hampton, admitted on Tuesday to having smoked marijuana during their teenage years. But we can learn from our indifference. The very fact that so many of us are unfazed tells us how ripe the issue of marijuana decriminalization has become.
Libertarians have long argued that drug policy should be left to individuals. But you don't have to embrace a laissez-faire world view to support reform of marijuana laws. Garden variety liberalism -- and even conservative social accountancy -- will lead you to the same conclusion. Liberalism -- the kind that advocates individual liberties, not government largesse -- is not hostile to state regulation, but it is suspicious of it. Liberals put the onus on government to justify the elimination of liberties by reference to the attendant harms. And conservatives ask whether the benefits of government intervention outweigh its social costs. Where marijuana is concerned, the government can meet neither burden of proof without making nonsense of the current law on a wide variety of activities that are mildly risky, but totally legal. Click the above link for the full story!
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