A new poll suggests Canada may have reached the tipping point and a 66-per-cent majority favours legalizing marijuana.
Hallelujah! Finally we might get a sensible public policy discussion in this country about what to do about a relatively benign substance that has been demonized and outlawed for a century yet is as readily available in schoolyards as cigarettes.
The prohibition and a 40-year-long “War on Drugs” have led to pot being more widely accessible, taxpayers considerably poorer, gangs richer and thousands upon thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens branded “criminal.”
Another 50,000 or so Canadians are busted every year for possession; throw in 20,000 or so traffickers and producers and this so-called war is costing us as much as $400 million annually in law enforcement, court and corrections.
Bearing in mind a million dollars a year buys roughly 12 new cops, 14 teachers or public health nurses, ask yourself: Couldn’t all that money be better spent?
The federal Liberal party obviously thinks so – 77 per cent of delegates at the weekend convention voted to legalize the herb, echoing the Senate special committee on illegal drugs (chaired by a Conservative), which 10 years ago urged the government to free the weed. Four decades ago, the LeDain Commission similarly called for an end to the criminal prohibition of cannabis.
Across the country today, more and more people agree.
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper is getting tougher on pot growers than he is on rapists of children. Under the Tories’ omnibus crime legislation tabled Tuesday, a person growing 201 pot plants in a rental unit would receive a longer mandatory sentence than someone who rapes a toddler or forces a five-year-old to have sex with an animal.
CANNABIS CULTURE – Marijuana culture is growing in the Canadian Prairies, and now the home of much of our country’s hemp-growing industry will play host to the 1st Annual Prairie Medicinal Cannabis Cup from July 8 – 10 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
The event will feature a cannabis competition where judges will sample ten different strains, six of them local Saskatchewan strains. The three-day event will feature guest speakers, live music, catered food, a vapour lounge and designated area for combustibles, free giveaways, a Sunday Award ceremony, and more.
Conservative Stephen Harper could win a majority government with as little as 34% of the vote on May 2. We must ensure this does not happen, or S-10, and mandatory minimums like it, will be law in 100 days. The most important thing you can do is VOTE on May 2!
