END THIS MARIJUANA CHARADE

On Monday, Winnipeg Police Inspector Dave Thorne stood atop the
Legislative Building's steps and gazed out at a throng of hundreds,
perhaps thousands of people publicly -- flauntingly -- breaking the
law by smoking marijuana, and observed: "Our view is this is a
worldwide protest for the proponents of decriminalizing marijuana.
From a police point of view, it's more about providing a safe
environment for people to express their views. It doesn't mean we
promote the breaking of acts or statutes, but we're trying to be realistic."

In cities across the country the same scene played out as marijuana
militants advocated for the legalization, or at least the
decriminalization, of marijuana, and even more politically
unmotivated just-plain-potheads took advantage of 4/20 -- which might
be called International Marijuana Day -- to take a hoot in public
without fear of being harassed or arrested.

It was almost certainly the greatest day for criminal activity in the
history of Canada, with thousands of crimes being committed across
the country -- or one crime being committed thousands of times,
depending on how one interprets it -- while the police looked on
benignly. In Ottawa, police turned the same blind eye as they did in
Winnipeg. In Vancouver, they did not even bother to show up for the
well advertised crime spree.

Some Canadians, some police officers, politicians and prosecutors,
might argue that the police were being derelict in their duty, which
is to arrest people when they see crimes being committed. Many more,
however, would argue that the police on Monday demonstrated a finer
sense of responsibility in their common sense and restraint than the
federal government has shown so far in its stubborn and indefensible
persistence in keeping the possession and trafficking of marijuana a
criminal offence punishable by imprisonment. As Insp. Thorne said,
the police "are trying to be realistic." Prime Minister Stephen
Harper and his Conservative government -- almost the last, lorn
opposition to reforming Canada's marijuana laws -- could learn a
lesson from the Winnipeg police.

Mr. Harper could also lift a huge weight from the backs of police
forces across Canada which are tasked with the job of enforcing
Canada's marijuana laws, arresting teenagers and lawyers and doctors
and construction workers for smoking the "killer weed," hunting the
growers who supply it to dealers who sell it to the users to no one's
particular harm but at considerable profit for the criminal
organizations attracted to it because it is illegal. All that effort
could be better applied to serious crimes.

Marijuana use is not as common in Canada yet as the drinking of beer,
but it may be as common as the smoking of tobacco, both of which are
legal and licensed and which supply huge revenues to federal and
provincial governments. The fear is that marijuana use will grow if
it is legalized, but it is growing anyway, at no financial gain to
government and at great cost to individuals in terms of criminal
convictions. It is time to end this charade and legalize and regulate
the sale of marijuana in the same way we do other popular and
irrepressible drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. It's time we were
all realistic.