Dan McKechnie

YOU WANNA GET HIGH? Not happening any time soon legally.

Pot legalization a long way off

Joel Aspden
Gateway Writer

Feb 15, 2012

Canada should legalize and control, or at least decriminalize, pot. Now that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business. Changing attitudes at public and the political levels suggest that Canada might be poised to make some long-overdue moves when it comes to legalization, but we still have a couple of difficult barriers in the way.

According to a study from the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, 44.5 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 have given cannabis the good old college try, while about 35 per cent of us college-aged students are current users. More importantly, zero per cent of us tried it legally.

At a recent meeting of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, several former Latin American presidents sparked controversy about international drug policy, pointing their fingers primarily at the US, and to a lesser extent at Canada and the EU. The commission blamed those nations’ rampant drug culture for the widespread illegal status and high demand of cannabis in neighbouring countries, claiming policy changes could be internationally beneficial.

The big problem is that, for several reasons, no one wants to be the vanguard of change, which might give Canada a chance to step up.

For many years now, Canadian political parties have been wavering back and forth on their official positions on weed. Just recently, the Liberal Party of Canada officially endorsed the legalization of cannabis, and despite the announcement having strong “we lost so bad in the last election, does anyone still love us?” undertones, it’s a bold move that will definitely garner some attention in the next few years.

Two recent polls by Forum Research showed that Canadians have stronger opinions about pot than they do about ties to the monarchy. About 20 per cent of Canadians are more concerned about the legalization of marijuana than they are with abolishing the Queen. With a growing majority of Canadians coming to their senses about the non-destructive nature of cannabis, legalization may be right around the corner.

Let’s not forget about Canada’s psychotic older brother, the United States. The US has been notoriously short-sighted in their “war on drugs” campaign: an over-reactive, ill-planned and grossly expensive operation that has destroyed more lives than it’s helped. Despite the obvious failure of the campaign, and unfortunately for us northern dwellers, the American political spectrum doesn’t seem to care about the science and reality of marijuana use. They would sooner throw you behind bars than see effective change.

Well then screw America. We Canadians can do what we want, right? Wrong. America likes us where we are. We have oil, water and the right kind of trees. The last thing America wants is another border to keep an eye on, and they’re going to work hard to keep it that way. Add to that at least three more years of Conservative rule in Parliament and it’s unlikely we’ll see dramatic change in the immediate future.

For now, all you puffers out there will have to keep your secrets hidden. Even though it makes sense socially, economically and politically to legalize cannabis, we’re unfortunately not in the best position to lead the charge.

At this point, the best we can hope for in the near future is decriminalization. Although again, with the Conservatives in Parliament, it’s unlikely that it’ll happen any time soon. But at least the Liberals and the NDP seem to have their heads screwed on the right way. Maybe in a few years, if our left-of-centre parties abandon their pride and combine to form the one party that can consistently beat the Blues, we’ll see the change that the majority of Canadians want. Until then, “keep it secret, keep it safe.”

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