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CN AB: Think-Tank Analyst Touts Legalized Dope

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Thursday 31 Aug 2000


Pubdate: Thu, 31 Aug 2000
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact: Address: #250, 4990-92 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6B 3A1 Canada
Fax: (780) 468-0139
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/
Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author: Ian McDougall

THINK-TANK ANALYST TOUTS LEGALIZED DOPE

Heroin, cocaine, pot -- legalize them all, says an analyst with B.C.'s Fraser I
nstitute.

Ottawa and Washington are losing the drug war and need to change their tactics
to stem the growing number of junkies and stop wrangling tax money for a failin
g cause, said Patrick Basham, a social policy analyst with the think-tank.

"The costs of drug prohibition far out-weigh any benefits that come from it," B
asham said yesterday.

Basham, along with Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery, lawyer Rod Gregory an
d others will discuss the drug war at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Hotel Macdonald in
a forum put on by Teaching Liberty Inc.

Basham said he's in favour of legalizing all drugs and ending a battle that cos
ts $2 billion a year in Canada to run.

"We have 90 years of evidence that prohibition doesn't work," he said, pointing
out that prior to 1913, opium could be purchased by anyone through the mail.

Gregory agrees, saying there has to be another way of controlling drug abuse in
stead of throwing anyone caught with a gram of cocaine in jail.

"I don't know what the solution is for hard drugs," Gregory said. "I don't see
how we're helping by sending an 18-year-old to jail for selling one gram of co
ke."

Legalization and federal regulation of the drug industry will take away the pro
fit motive which drives up street prices and makes pushing dope attractive, Bas
ham said.

Making illicit drugs legal doesn't appeal to Edmonton's acting police Chief Bob
Wasylyshen.

"That's an extremely simplistic view," he said.

The real solution is to take away the demand for drugs and starve the dealers o
f cash, he said. "That's where our long-term focus has to be."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager

 

 

 

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