Joe Fiorito has an excellent column in The Star, discussing Canada’s plans to add mandatory minimums to a bunch of drug offenses, and a speech by Eugene Oscapella of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.
The column is like a basic primer: Why tough drug laws won’t work
Here’s the problem, according to Oscapella and almost everyone else who looks at drugs with a clear eye: The first result of the prohibition of any substance – alcohol, tobacco, cocaine – is the creation of a lucrative black market. […]
Drugs are less about getting high, and more about making huge pots of money. As for risk, it is possible to fit enough heroin to supply this country for a year in the back of a cube van; a year’s supply of cocaine will fit in a shipping container. How many shipping containers and cube vans come into Canada in any given year? What’s the cost of a timely bribe?
In other words, criminal law has created a lucrative black market, and criminal law is powerless to stop it. […]
Oscapella said, “If you’re a mom-and-pop producer of marijuana, mandatory minimums will scare you out of business.” Yeah, so? “Organized crime will step in; the government has moved the competition out of the way.”
This is an unintended consequence of the worst kind: Banning a substance makes it wildly lucrative; punishing the small fry makes it easier for the bad guys to do business.
Mandatory reading for all Canadian politicians.
Record your thoughts on marijuana legalization efforts in California
Record your thoughts on marijuana legalization efforts in California
This isn’t showing up right in the comment preview, but it should work. Anyway, I just noticed the other week that this laptop I’ve had for two years has a built in microphone, I recorded a message.
I’ve been trying to tell the Canadian government about this, but they aren’t listening to me.
STOP Bill C-15!: PHONE JAM Continued
On September 14th, The International Hempology 101 Society initiated a nation wide campaign to clog the senate with messages from disenfranchised, everyday Canadians.
Marijuana Mercy: Pardon John Ray Wilson
Medical marijuana user with multiple sclerosis faces up to 20 in prison for growing pot plants.
CN BC: Column: Mandatory Sentences And A Handless Man
Marc Emery Could Be Extradited Any Day
He’s waiting for a five year jail term. The prince of pot, is sitting tight until he’s extradited to the United States.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an Air-Conditioned Drug Smuggling Tunnel?
Cost of building one with air-conditioning and electric transportation is low compared with the likely rewards.
Eugene is a great Canadian who has been trying to let the powerful know about the folly of drug policy for a long time. I just wish they would listen to him.
How loud must a chorus be for rulers to hear its people.
Surely it wouldnt need be so loud that god himself take notice of the cries of his people.
(Quote by R.O.E. 2009)
3360336 beers on the wall. sck was here