Posted
on Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 11:47 AM
To invoke a certain character from a not-so-recent stoner comedy: "If marijuana isn't legal in the next five years, I have no faith left in humanity." A little extreme, but I agree with the basic premise. It's absurd that we've legalized alcohol and tobacco before pot. Marijuana does not lower your inhibitions, it's not physically addictive, and it's relatively non-toxic (not benign, but nearly impossible to overdose). By comparison, alcohol and tobacco are highly addictive, highly toxic, and alcohol lowers your inhibitions to the point where you may find yourself doing unspeakable things. Alcohol can kill you in one sitting if you're not careful, and the more you consume the less careful you become. By this comparison alone, it's foolish not to legalize and tax marijuana as a recreational drug. Legalization has the support of several former Canadian attorney generals, as well as an international panel of political figures that recently sent a memo to our federal government explaining why criminalization of marijuana doesn't work. Moreover, mandatory minimums are now becoming a reality in Canada for something less dangerous than what is already legal and available to consume. Mandatory minimums strip judges of their judgment and they throw individual circumstances of each legal case out the window. They will also clog the justice system to a point where these laws become ineffective. We can make so much more money off of legalization, rather than the criminalization of marijuana, with economic benefits spreading to many sectors of society other than just the criminal justice sector. And it has to be legalized - not just decriminalized - because that money needs to be taxed so that all of Canada can reap the benefits, and it would also take marijuana out of the hands of dangerous drug cartels operating in Canada. All of these reasons, and many more, lead me to one conclusion... —Legalize It