cannabisnews.com: Time To Smoke Out Farce





Time To Smoke Out Farce
Posted by CN Staff on September 08, 2002 at 10:31:13 PT
By Licia Corbella -- Calgary Sun
Source: Calgary Sun
"There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people." -- Hubert H. Humphrey The U.S. and, to a lesser extent, Canada, should have listened to Humphrey. Since the time that Humphrey served under U.S. president Lyndon Johnson (1965-69) until now, jails filled to bulging with people who smoke a relatively benign plant are testament to the truth of his words.
North America -- particularly the U.S. -- is about four decades behind popular opinion, and practice, with regard to marijuana. Indeed, a poll conducted a couple of years ago found that four out of every five Canadians are in favour of decriminalizing the simple possession of marijuana for personal use. In the U.S., about two-thirds of Americans are in favour of the same. And as Wendell Phillips (1811-1884) said: "Law is nothing unless close behind it stands a warm living public opinion." The whole decriminalization or legalization debate has wafted around thickly this past week following the rather surprising report by the Senate's Special Committee on Illegal Drugs released Wednesday. The committee members of the Upper Chamber of (cough, cough) sober second thought argued, following two years of study, that marijuana should be legalized for a whole host of reasons, not least of which was the unevenness with which the current anti-pot laws are applied. One person caught lighting up in public might simply have their joint thrown down a sewage drain, another might be prosecuted and receive a criminal record. Indeed, the report says about half of the 90,000 drug incidents reported each year involve cannabis. Worse, drug enforcement runs at $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year -- with one-third of that related to cannabis. That's simply a waste of my money. On Friday, I spent about three minutes walking around one floor of the Sun building asking one simple question: "Have you ever smoked pot?" Thirty-two people said yes (myself included) and eight said no and to be quite frank, it was harder to believe the eight than it was to believe the others. Out of all of those people, only one of them still partakes on occasion. Which is telling, too. It points out that, despite what the police associations were saying last week, marijuana is something people do when they are very young and that for the most part, stop doing eventually and turn into highly productive, responsible adults. Canada's current laws on marijuana are a farce -- as outdated as laws still on the books about the proper use and placement of spittoons. As Woodrow Wilson said: "The law that will work is merely the summing up in legislative form of the moral judgment that the community has already reached." And as Sophocles wrote some 400 years before the birth of Christ: "Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law." Clearly, that's problematic. Numerous Canadian politicians -- our law makers -- have admitted to using pot. Indeed, the former president of the U.S., Bill Clinton, admitted to trying marijuana but not (ahem) inhaling and there are testimonials from friends of George W. Bush who say W. was a doobie brother who definitely did inhale. (No wonder he can't remember any good books he read.) As U.S. Justice Louis D. Brandeis said: "Crime is contagious. If a government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself." Basically, laws not enforced cease to be laws. And when laws are inconsistently applied, contempt grows for those laws, those who enforce them and those who apply them. That's what's happened with marijuana. Some users and sometimes even dealers of marijuana have not been charged, while someone like Grant Krieger, who needs marijuana to relieve the pain and symptoms of MS, constantly gets pursued, prosecuted and persecuted by the police despite the fact he has a Court of Queen's bench exemption to use, grow and distribute marijuana in unlimited quantities. One has to ask who the lawbreaker is in this case? I would argue it's the Calgary police. This is not to say I am an advocate of marijuana use. I am not. I am also not in favour of legalization. But I am in favour of decriminalizing marijuana for simple possession for personal use for all of the age-old reasons listed above. The Senate committee claims that simply decriminalizing marijuana leaves its cultivation and distribution in the hands of organized crime. That is patently ridiculous. Most of the big grow operations that make it into the news after they get busted, have nothing to do with bikers and everything to do with independent people trying to make some fast cash. Unlike cocaine and heroin, pot can be grown in your basement or backyard. Ties to organized crime are simply not required and not fact. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, who has admitted to using marijuana, said our laws no longer reflect our reality. "When we have legislation that's not really being enforced because it's no longer consistent with social realities, it's important for a government to look at and reshape such legislation," said Cauchon on Wednesday. And for my last quote of the column, I turn to Richard Nixon for the best argument of all. "We have to find ways to clear the courts of the endless stream of 'victimless crimes' that get in the way of serious consideration of serious crimes. There are more important matters for highly skilled judges and prosecutors than minor traffic offences, loitering and drunkenness." The irony of that comment is not lost on me. Note: Unenforced marijuana laws breed only contempt for legal system.Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)Author: Licia Corbella -- Calgary SunPublished: September 8, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Calgary SunContact: callet sunpub.comWebsite: http://www.fyicalgary.com/calsun.shtmlRelated Articles:The Pot Debate Takes Centre Stage http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14041.shtmlWhere There's Toke ...http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14040.shtmlDon't Legalize Pot, Decriminalize It http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14032.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on September 08, 2002 at 14:38:35 PT
STILL, they are not listening.
"The U.S. and, to a lesser extent, Canada, should have listened to Humphrey."Have You noticed at, http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/index.htm all the Canadian stories coming up?Wow.NOTICE, there is no news from Canada about the Senate... printed in u.s. papers?one LTE, even states the same... 2 weeks ago...Sat, 24 Aug 2002
You have pointed out what cannabis activists have said all along -- that because of a lack of toxic side effects, cannabis is relatively safe ( Marijuana Drug Touted As A Safe Pain Reliever -- Aug. 22 ). And it is interesting that I must read this news in a Canadian newspaper, for it's not printed yet in the United States. I wonder why? 
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