LEGALIZING POT ISN'T THE ANSWER

You can always count on Rob Strang to resort to the Green Party
playbook on weeks when there is nothing to write about. I'm sure
sometimes he does it just to get under my skin (like I do to him on
occasion) but never would have guessed that his column last week
calling for the legalization of marijuana would have elicited such a
strong response. I'll admit that I once too wrote a paper with an
argument strikingly similar to the one my colleague proposed, based
very much on economics.

While I'm sure I must have received a good grade, I've matured a lot
since Grade 9 or 10 or whenever it was that I handed it in and my
views have turned 180 degrees.

The Center for Addiction and Mental Health reports that "with heavy
use (cannabis) often reduces motivation for work and study ... may
impair people's attention, memory and the ability to process complex
information for weeks, months and even years after they have stopped
using cannabis."

Rather than legalizing marijuana we should give our law enforcement
and judiciary the tools they need to effectively fight this problem.

Those that make the argument for the legalization of marijuana argue
that up to half a billion dollars could be saved on policing and
judicial costs. They go on to suggest that up to $2 billion could be
netted in new tax dollars. It will remove the grow-op problem, they
tell us, and take power and money away from gangs and other assorted
criminals. It isn't really related here, but those arguments are
strikingly similar to the ones that are also used for legalizing
prostitution. They also blissfully ignore the other side of the
equation related to the increased medical costs required to fight addictions.

The argument that legalizing marijuana will take away the criminal
element is almost laughable. The stories about problems related to
contraband cigarettes never stop with our provincial government
seemingly having resorted to calculating the price elasticity that
increased taxes have on the problem. The more they tax, the more
prevalent the problem becomes.

There are some rather impractical implications to legalizing
marijuana as well. The local papers have been filled over the last
little while about zoning issues and surrounding windmills and gravel
pits. Can you not imagine the fun the first time a local farmer
approaches one of our rural municipalities seeking permission for the
first legal grow-op? What about in town? Well son, you need a permit
for a chiminea to toast marshmallows, but it's OK to grow some weed.

The divide of public opinion on this issue is almost evenly split and
there is also a very stark divide of opinion at around the age of 35.
Green Party support for this issue is smart policy very clearly
focused on their goal of attracting younger voters. It's unfortunate,
too, because for all of the wonderful policy ideas that the party has
introduced into debate it is one of the goofy ones that keeps it
closer to the Marijuana Party and farther from the elected mainstream.

Doug Harkness is a longtime member of the Orangeville community with
a keen interest in local, provincial and federal politics. He is a
member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.