Isn't It Time We Got Around To Legalizing Marijuana?

[Ganjarden]

Anyone who attended Miramichi Culture Fest this past weekend will tell you the folks who came out to see the show had a good time, enjoyed the music, the food, the beer and, oh yes, the pot.

OK so no vendor was set up selling marijuana but that didn't stop it from being plentiful and that familiar smell was everywhere. And what's more, nobody really seemed to care. Same could be said for most big events and concerts these days.

A few weeks back I was at the Disturbed concert in Moncton and the story was much the same. You could not only smell the pot but you could see a cloud of smoke sitting like smog above the crowd.

Again, nobody really seemed to notice.

In fact statistics now show Canada leads the industrialized world in the consumption of marijuana. Each year in this country 16.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15-64 consume pot. That's a very big percentage of the population spread over a very wide age range.

The truth is, most of the people smoking up at the concert on Friday were well into adulthood, not teenagers or young people in their 20s.

The marijuana trade in this country alone is worth $7.5 billion each year and on top of that a poll by Angus Reid shows 55 per cent of Canadians believe marijuana should be legalized.

So why haven't we done it yet? Why is marijuana still illegal? Here is something a large percentage of the population already uses, it could represent tens of millions in tax revenue and it would free up police services to deal with other crimes.

Well, as Mr. Mackey would say on South Park "drugs are bad, m'kay." I'd agree with that. Drugs are bad and some are worse than others.

Take alcohol for example. It's legal and it's widely consumed, but it's still a drug and a dangerous one. It's not only psychologically addictive (like pot can be) but physically addictive (which is not the case with pot). Alcoholism is a major problem in our society and can lead to a host of health issues.

Pot isn't without medical issue, mainly in the lungs. Any smoke is bad — period.

But then again processed cheese, donuts, french fries and tons of other things we consume have major health concerns associate with them. Nobody is moving to make donuts illegal.

How about permanent brain damage? Sorry all signs point to no. Study after study has shown even heavy marijuana use does not cause brain damage. At the same time brain damage has been associate with long-term, heavy alcohol consumption.

So one kind of Bud can be bad for the brain and another kind of bud isn't.

Well how about the fact pot is a gateway drug? Don't people who use it just go on to harder drugs like co*aine or he*oin? Well unless almost 17 per cent of the Canadian public aged 15-54 is moving on to hard drugs, it seems unlikely. But in the interest of informing the public only 0.3 per cent of people who use marijuana become problem drug users.

And finally the crime connection. As we've seen locally pot is a key product for criminals involved in organized crime and other illegal activities. This is true. But the same could be said for alcohol during the prohibition era in the United States. When liquor was outlawed, organized crime got into the business of meeting people's demands.

When it was legal to make, sell and consume liquor again, there was no profit in it for the criminals. If we had a way to legally produce and sell pot in this country, it would no longer be attractive to criminals. They'd still be in business, just doing other things, but almost a quarter of the people in this country wouldn't have to go to them for their pot.

So why is it still illegal?

Politics. The people who make the rules in this country are pretty straight laced people. There may be a few you could picture in law school passing a bong around, but with most it seems unlikely.

On top of that the people opposed to legalization tend to be politically involved or older. These are people who vote more than those in the 55 per cent in favor of legalization.

At the end of the day politicians are interested in being re-elected. If the 55 per cent of Canadians who support legalization want change they have to put pressure on their elected officials to make a change.

And you also have to vote. You don't vote, you don't get a say. Change comes on election days.

If politicians believed legalization would win them votes, they'd be lighting up in the halls of parliament.

In the meantime, smoke 'em if you got 'em!


News Hawk- Ganjarden http://www.420Magazine.com
Source: Miramichi Leader
Author: Darcey McLaughlin
Contact: Miramichi Leader
Copyright: 2009 CanadaEast Interactive, Brunswick News Inc
Website: Isn't It Time We Got Around To Legalizing Marijuana?