Marijuana.com

Sukoi

This is from Canada and is probably the best editorial that I’ve ever read against cannabis prohibition and I've read a lot. As I understand it, the paper/magazine that it is published in is widely read across Canada and this editorial should be read by as many as possible everywhere. It is simply outstanding and is definitely a keeper. Please disseminate this as widely as possible. Here are the first few paragraphs:

AND MARIJUANA FOR ALL

Moral panic over grow ops ignores fact that more of us puff than play hockey

By ALAN YOUNG

I am becoming embarrassed by the endless pot debate in Canada. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan recently stated that marijuana smokers are stupid (Was this her way of saying she smokes the herb?), but the true imbecility lies in the irresolute and confused response of our government to a no-brainer issue of public policy.

Officials are trying to generate a new moral panic over grow ops. Citing a litany of Biblical plagues like fire, mould and child neglect, police and politicians claim that indoor marijuana-growing is turning our communities into living hells.

With shameful audacity, there was even an attempt to link last month's killing of four RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, to the cultivation of marijuana. This week, the police services board will consider a report from Toronto police calling for the establishment of a special "marijuana grow team to deal with this problem."

Scarborough politicians have started going door to door like meddlesome vigilantes to snoop around for grow ops. At a town hall meeting last week, one councillor extolled the virtue of being "nosy" and provided this sage advice: "Don't be nice to your neighbour." I guess the marijuana grower is the 21st-century communist, posing such a grave threat to national security that the situation warrants turning neighbours into spies and informants.

From my perspective, the marijuana issue is a no-brainer. There are probably more Canadians who smoke pot than play hockey. People have been doing this for more than 10,000 years.

No one has ever died from pot, while a number of approved pharmaceuticals have been pulled off the market this year for causing cardiac arrest or suicidal ideation. Growing pot is perfectly safe, but our harsh, prohibitionist approach creates an unregulated black market in which there is little incentive to comply with safety code standards.

Every moral panic is built on a few real tragedies. There have been grow op fires, and I guess some homes are overrun with mould. Some people have bad experiences smoking pot. But the occasional tragedy does not constitute a social problem, and if the prohibitionists were right, one would expect to find problems of epidemic proportions when there are millions of users and thousands of grow rooms in this great country.

I believe there are six incontrovertible reasons why we should put the tiresome marijuana debate to rest once and for all by truly giving Canadians the liberty to grow and use the marijuana plant for personal use, whether recreational or medical. <snip>

The rest can be read at the link provided and it's definately well worth the read!

 

zen_sensation

im a canadian to and the whole thing pisses me off. if beer was illegal people would be making it inside their basement and would be selling it and it would be a big ****ing ordeal. alchohal is no better than pot infact its 10 times worse for you. so if they're upset about crime then they would do well to legalize it then any ***** they had about it before would be utterly gone.

secretagentman

A drug can only possess criminogenic potential if it is a disinihibitor like alcohol or if it has addictive potential(insert also like alcohol). There is little evidence that marijuana is addictive, though many chronic users experience a psychological dependency like that of the compulsive jogger who continues a daily exercise regimen despite failing knees.

Great editoreal. Did a great job taking all the main issues and calling the gvt on them in a short and concise piece. Wicked.
By the way NOW is a city newspaper in Toronto, although I believe they now also publish one for Vancouver covering similar stories, but obviously with a different local focus.
In my opinion, these free city newspapers are an amazing tool of demecracy. Afterall democracy's are based on people actually knowning what's going on so that they can make good descisions, and as we see more and more of our news sources are failing to provide the classic journalistic opposition to the gvt. Local newspapers are often free, paid for mosltly by local advertising. The news they break is issue based rather than a fluffy page filling human interest story or crime report. This is what makes our societys apear to be going to hell in a handbasket, overall were safer, but our reporting of dangerous stuff is up majorly so we are all off balance. Local newspapers rock.

__________________
Dave

Car-free! My bod's my hotrod

The ultimate measure of a man
is not where he stands
in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands
at times of challenge and controversy.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cassius

I agree with his goal, but his methods leave something to be desired.

There has been so much propaganda and lies on this subject, that the only way we are ever going to win is by PROCLAIMING the TRUTH, and as loudly as we can.

These are the reasons he listed in the article, and why I disagree with some of them:

Cannabis is a plant, true, but so is coca. Does that mean that cocaine (or its even more addictive and socially destructive counterpart, crack) should be legalized because it comes from a plant?

I have to go with the Supreme Court's view on this -- other courts offer valuable INSIGHT into what is right and wrong, what should be legal and what shouldn't, but they aren't the deciding factor. US Law is not dependent on European law, for example.

This is excellent information to be proclaiming on the anti-prohibitionist front, but again, it offers insight and doesn't mean that we should do the same just because THEY have had success with it. It should be considered, but it is not going to be a major factor in how, when, or why it is legalized in the US.

I can't argue with that. Preach it, brotha!

It is true on this point that legislation should not take the place of preventive healthcare. However, I don't think the prohibitionists have ever pushed that. They don't keep it illegal so that you won't get emphysema, they keep it illegal for the chiiiiiildren....

First, there is a difference between not supporting criminilization, and supporting decriminilization. Secondly, you don't say how big the margin is -- is it 51% that supports decriminilization, or 85%? And thirdly, you just now figured out that the government system your country has isn't a true democracy? Did you sleep through your Government class in high school?

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