cannabisnews.com: Is Canada Going To Pot?





Is Canada Going To Pot?
Posted by CN Staff on May 30, 2003 at 22:45:42 PT
By Richard Elrick
Source: Barnstable Patriot 
Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien has further shaken our bilateral relationship by recently announcing his government's plan to remove criminal penalties against people caught with 1.1 ounces or less of marijuana. Joining many other countries, including England and Australia, Canada has decided her limited criminal justice resources could be better spent fighting terrorists and violent crime, rather than marijuana users.
This proposed change is similar to Massachusetts Senate Bill 207 recently introduced by former police officer Senator Charles Shannon. Both laws would have the effect of decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot by reducing the penalty from arrest and probation or incarceration to a civil fine of $100 ­ similar to getting a traffic ticket.Prime Minister Chretien and Sen. Shannon are certainly not alone in their view of the futility and harm caused by America's "zero tolerance" war on pot. Boston city councilor Chuck Turner surprised his colleagues this month when he called for legalization of certain drugs and compared our anti-drug laws to the failure of prohibition. In a similar vein, Maryland Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich angered the Bush administration by keeping his campaign promise to sign into law a medical marijuana bill.Additionally, 12 U.S. states, from California to Maine, have marijuana laws that are at least as liberal as the proposed Canadian one. While here in Massachusetts over the last two election cycles, voters have overwhelmingly approved medicinal and marijuana decriminalization ballot questions in the 20-plus legislative districts where they appeared.The current policy of arresting, prosecuting, and often imprisoning marijuana users is particularly cruel and ineffective. Since 1992, approximately 6 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana offenses, and according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, in 2001 alone, 723,627 were arrested (up from 283,700 in 1991). Today, nearly 70 million of our fellow citizens admit to having tried marijuana, while 11 million admit to using it on a monthly basis (400,000 in Massachusetts). The war on marijuana users costs taxpayers between $7.5 and $10 billion annually.Each year in Massachusetts more than 11,000 people are arrested on marijuana charges, the vast majority for simple possession. The millions of dollars spent on these arrests and prosecutions could well be spent in other areas such as public education and healthcare for seniors. Because possession of small amounts of pot is a criminal offense, those arrested face other severe consequences. Workers lose professional and drivers licenses; parents lose custody of their children, and students can lose all scholarships and loans under the 1998 U. S. Higher Education Act.More people are incarcerated for marijuana offenses than for murder, manslaughter and rape. Because of the absurd mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, the average punishment in federal prisons for marijuana offenders is 50 months, while for violent offenders it's 43 months. And if you're a minority, watch out. Blacks are arrested nationally at more than twice the rate of whites for marijuana possession, even though their use rate is the same as for whites.How can we justify treating those who buy and sell marijuana more harshly, in many cases, than rapists and murderers? Why would we waste precious prison space on those who consume a product, which by every anecdotal and scientific standard is less toxic and addictive than both alcohol and tobacco?As the DEA's own administrative law Judge, Francis Young said in 1988, "Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." Its use has never resulted in death by overdose, and both the U.N.'s World Health Organization and The National Academy of Sciences have concluded that marijuana is one of the least dangerous drugs, legal or otherwise. While in 1999, an Institute of Medicine study commissioned by former Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey stated that there was no conclusive evidence marijuana was a "gateway" drug.One of the primary benefits of decriminalizing marijuana would be to separate it from the so-called hard drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. Those who desire to purchase marijuana would not have to do so from the same people who often supply the hard drugs, thereby reducing the likelihood of their exposure and access to those more harmful substances. In Holland, where Marijuana for adults is legally available, there is a lower use by young people, not only of hard drugs, but also of marijuana. After Maine decriminalized, marijuana law enforcement was transformed from a substantial drain on revenues into a net revenue raiser. California actually saved $100 million annually by decriminalizing.Some have argued that decriminalizing marijuana would send the wrong message to our children. But what kind of message are we sending now by denying medicine to sick and dying people. Or by imprisoning people for using a substance young people know is less dangerous than alcohol. No, the message would be a good one. Our children would see their government no longer pursuing a failed policy, needlessly ruining people's lives in order to appear tough. They would get the same message we now send about tobacco and alcohol: That the best way to handle the potential abuse of drugs (particularly marijuana) is through regulation, taxation, education and treatment not by imprisonment.Contrary to what opponents say, decriminalization of marijuana and other harm reduction strategies is not capitulation to the drug dealers, but rather a means to put them out of business. Nor is it an endorsement of drug use. No more than was ending Alcohol Prohibition in 1933 an endorsement of alcohol use.It is time to honestly look at how the present drug "war" policy has failed. The past three decades have demonstrated that a drug policy shaped by exaggerated rhetoric designed to arouse fear has only lead to our current disaster. Unless we are willing to objectively evaluate our options, including various harm reduction alternatives like decriminalizing marijuana, we will never find the best solution to our substance abuse problems.Richard Elrick is an attorney and Barnstable Town Councilor from Centerville.Source: Barnstable Patriot (MA)Author: Richard ElrickPublished: May 30, 2003Copyright: 2003 Cornerstone Communications, Inc.Contact:  editor barnstablepatriot.com Website: http://www.barnstablepatriot.com/Related Articles:Canada Wakes Up and Smells The Green http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16457.shtmlEhrlich Signs Marijuana Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16363.shtmlStoners Find Almost $25 Million: Offer To Romneyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15670.shtml
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