The police chief of Ottawa, Vern White, no Liberal or liberal he, has come out with the rational view that marijuana should be decriminalized. He tells the Ottawa Citizen this morning that "...he isn’t interested in giving marijuana users criminal records, and would support discussing decriminalization..."
But he has a condition and it is a reasonable one: “My only concern about the word ‘decriminalizing’ is the suggestion to the public that (marijuana) is not a
dangerous drug.”
Fact is, and the pro pot lobby doesn't want to admit this, smoking weed is not good for you if you are chronic.
Ditto booze and tobacco.
Everything in moderation.
WFDS
White overstates the danger of pot -- which he has to, as marijuana arrests are a 'valuable investigative tool' as the police lobby claims. But your right, nothing is harmless. However, if you have a drinking problem, you get sent to treatment, not jail, and a POA ticket for having an open beer is nothing like a CDSA charge for smoking a joint.
ReplyDeleteWhat we do in Canada will have little effect on organized crime because almost all is smuggled into the US for far more money. It would be far better if California or some other state relaxed their laws and then criminals would rather smuggle across state lines than an international border.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the huge numbers of lawsuits over legal tobacco, I can't see it having any chance. We even have legitimate tobacco companies defrauding themselves so they can cheat on the taxes. Do we expect pot to be any different if it gets taxed the same?
I'd make it like home made beer & wine. You can grow and use your own but only at your own risk and you get a huge fine if you sell it. Police need to enforce the use in public laws the same as tobacco or drinking though.