Cannabis Consensus At Session

The leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada and a cannabis activist agreed cannabis should be decriminalized at a Friday discussion at the University of Lethbridge hosted by the campus Libertarian Club.

Keith Fagin, a Calgary-based cannabis activist, said cannabis should be legalized and treated like alcohol and tobacco – controlled and taxed.
Dennis Young, Libertarian Party of Canada leader, said cannabis should be decriminalized but not controlled or taxed, given party members advocate for a government with limited powers.

Young spent years working on the other side of the fence, first as a soldier and then in the military police. His experiences collecting intelligence in Newfoundland, being at Ipperwash in 1993 when Dudley George was killed, and putting his friend in a body bag in Bosnia eventually made him take a step back to ponder the value of what Canadian forces were doing and who was benefiting.

"Everything the government does somebody benefits," Young said.
He left the army and worked in the oilpatch for a while, although he said he was unhappy and likely suffering from a degree of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"You have money but no meaning," he told the audience of about 40 students.

A friend invited him to a Libertarian event and the party philosophy captured his interest. The politics of a big government versus a free society engaged him. He studied capitalism and socialism, and decided capitalism means productivity, even though the downside is that some people will commit crimes.

When substances are illegal, the trade in them typically leads to violence. When alcohol was illegal, the trade in alcohol became violent. When it became legal, violence became associated with use of the substance, not in the trade of it. In the same vein, legalized prostitution, Young said, doesn't lead to prostitutes disappearing.

"The choice really is do you want the drugs and the prostitution there or do you want drugs and prostitution and the violence there?" he said.

Fagin said Canada's medical marijuana program isn't working because Canada has only a few qualified dispensaries and the marijuana permitted by Health Canada is of low quality. He also talked about Bill C-15, which deals with mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders. The Senate agreed to amend the bill this week to give judges more leeway in sentencing convictions for growing between five and 200 plants.

Fagin said media reports haven't been accurate and that the bill will lead to increased incarceration and a larger burden on taxpayers. If the product was legalized, the government would realize tax revenues and be able to reduce its costs of enforcement. He said he encourages people to use cannabis responsibly and not consume it in public.


News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Lethbridge Herald
Author: Caroline Zentner
Contact: The Lethbridge Herald
Copyright: 2009 The Lethbridge Herald
Website: Cannabis Consensus At Session
 
Dennis Young, Libertarian Party of Canada leader, said cannabis should be decriminalized but not controlled or taxed, given party members advocate for a government with limited powers.

I have to strongly disagree with Mr. Young on this point. Decrim still leaves pot in the control of organized crime and the violence that comes with it. Total legalization is the only way to cut the gangs out of the trade. Let little mom and pop grows flourish and larger growers submit their products so that they may be sold in a controlled environment. Your friendly neighbourhood dealer isn't checking little Johnies ID and likely has more dangerous things than pot in his pocket.

All drugs should be available and legal for those that use or abuse them. That would greatly reduce petty crime and worse by making it affordable for the poor souls that will rob, cheat, steal and even kill to support their habit.

I'm sure as hell not going to run out and get hooked on hard drugs just because I could. It would be nice tho to pick up a pack of my favorite strain of reefers whilst picking up a box of beer.

:peace:
 
I think what he is saying about decrminalization but not controll is to allow us to grow our own for pesonal use as long as we keep it at home and dont sell it they leave us alone if we smoke in public and dont sell it the cops dont mess with us and we can have our gardens step one little toe over that line and the cops decend like vultures . As he said when alcohol was illegal trade in them lead to violence but when alcohol became legal use of the substance would lead to violence and legalized violence didnt lead to the disappearance of protitution so the question is do you want marijuana and people allowed to use it whereever they want or marijuana that is there but not seen /

So bascially if they win we get to grow pot and use pot in our homes but if we abuse that right we get busted for transporting .
 
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