cannabisnews.com: Canada Explores Legalizing, America Escalates War





Canada Explores Legalizing, America Escalates War
Posted by CN Staff on September 24, 2002 at 09:42:47 PT
By Nolan Finley, The Detroit News
Source: Detroit News 
Canada is considering waving the white flag in a key battle of the drug war. Our often quirky neighbor is exploring the legalization of marijuana and its potential surrender leaves the drug warriors in this country aghast.  They envision aging hippies, stressed out executives, curious kids and the whole of Middle America squeezing through border checkpoints to get their hands on some legal Canadian dope.
The model is set. Canada's 19-year-old drinking age already pulls throngs of Metro Detroit teens across the bridge and through the tunnel to Windsor's bars and dance clubs.  Canada's flirtation with legalization is pragmatic. No matter what it has done to curb marijuana cultivation and use, the people there still choose to smoke pot.  And so do the people here. Roughly 10 million Americans use marijuana on a regular basis. But contrast Canada's approach to that of the United States.  America's drug czar, John Walters, visited Detroit recently to talk about a reinvigorated effort to stamp out marijuana. It will be battled on the supply side, as always, but also with beefed up education programs aimed at curbing demand.  It's a scare campaign to highlight the harmful effects of marijuana and its role as a gateway drug to more dangerous narcotics. Walters aims to dispel the popular notion that marijuana has more in common with alcohol and tobacco than with cocaine and heroin.  He says increasing toxicity levels in marijuana make it more addictive, and even fatal, and that children are the most vulnerable. He promises a cigarette-style effort that relentlessly pounds home the message of marijuana's evils, while making access to it more difficult.  Walter's fear is that if it chooses legalization, Canada will condone marijuana use and remove the deterence that comes with criminal sanctions.  His approach to the drug war sounds like another version of the tried-and-failed tactics of the last 30 years. We've never had much success in protecting people from their vices or from their own self-destructive tendencies, and nothing in this new plan offers hope of change.  Canada, on the other hand, is at least willing to discuss a different approach. While legalization might drive up drug use rates by making marijuana easier to get, it might also make marijuana easier to control.  Certainly Walters' concern about toxicity levels could be addressed if government could monitor the production process. Store-bought booze, heavily regulated by the feds, is less poisonous than the stuff cooked up in moonshine stills.  Removing distribution of pot from the criminal gangs might also provide a better chance for keeping it away from children. As long as gangsters control the marketing of pot, children will be directly targeted. If marijuana were sold through legal channels, the same measures used to keep alcohol and tobacco away from kids could be put in place.  Marijuana accounts for two-thirds of the drug use in this country. We spend upward of $50 billion a year combating narcotics, with much of that going to fight pot. No one, not even the legalization advocates in Canada, contends that marijuana is harmless. The debate is whether it's any more harmful than the legal products for getting high now available at every corner market.  An honest examination of that question could save the country a lot of money and grief. Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The Detroit News. Complete Title: While Canada Explores Legalizing Pot, America's Drug War EscalatesNewshawk: Nicholas Thimmesch - http://www.norml.org/Source: Detroit News (MI)Author: Nolan Finley, The Detroit NewsPublished: September 22, 2001Copyright: 2002 The Detroit News Contact: letters detnews.com Website: http://www.detnews.com/ Related Articles:Canada's Pot Policy Under Fire from U.S.http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14095.shtmlDrug Czar's Visit Will Include Pot Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14092.shtmlLegalize Marijuana, Senate Committee Sayshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13989.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #3 posted by karkulus on September 24, 2002 at 15:57:36 PT
What about the "10,000 Studies"?
  You know ,The one's that Asa Hutchenson (and I don't care if I spelled it right or wrong,'as long as they spell your name right',etc. well,screw him!)yeah,well,about those "10,000 studies",...I'd like to see a study comparing the studies,Wouldn't You All?? I havn't been "keeping- count", but it seems that there's at least a 2 to 1 ratio for less restrictions than more...does anyone have a list?or web link to such a comparative "study of studies" ?(and ,of course,most"anti" studies are from govt.-grant -mongers with a pre-determined outcome!)
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by p4me on September 24, 2002 at 11:31:59 PT
You are missing the point pal
"No one, not even the legalization advocates in Canada, contends that marijuana is harmless."
----------------------------------------What people claim is that cannabis does something for them. I really do not know exactly what harm there is if a person eats or drinks marijuana. Getting high is not a harm it is what people want it to do for them. Some people might take Valium to deal with their emotional state but some people like me prefer marijuana and if you eat it I really do not know what harm you are talking about. Does it harm your brain? No, and it may prevent brain damage in a trauma event because it reduces swelling which reduces pressure in the skull that might otherwise result in damage. I do not want to go on because I do not say it does no damage, but I say I do not know what damage a person should worry about besides the criminal aspects. But marijuana does something for people or they would not want it. Maybe in the next article the guy will tell us some of the dangers of marijuana other than smoking related problems which we have all heard. Particle inhalation is the most damaging aspect of marijuana and it only applies to smoking it. Of course it is a political position and reasoning with a stonewall has not done any good. When people get upset enough that their tax money is being wasted and that the corruption of the drug laws and the black market are far worse than the substances, the politicians that protect the gates are going to be sent home.Marijuana has benefits for those that use it. The author leaves that side out and mentions the word harm but tells no details. I do not know the harm of eating it myself and you would think I could throw some BS on that wall and see if it would stick.I ask the choir. I ask Dr. Russo. What is the harm he is talking about if marijuana is not smoked?1,2
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by afterburner on September 24, 2002 at 10:02:40 PT:
Gateway, NOT. Read the Senate Report
Canada, as a member of the Commonwealth, has greater ties to Great Britain, than to the U.S., regardless of the massive cross-border trade. If Great Britian is lessening penalties and taking a more humane approach to cannabis, Canada should ally itself with the Commonwealth and not give in to ignorant U.S. pressure to continue the failed marijuana prohibition of the War on Drugs.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment