|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
CN MB: Editorial: Rules For Cannabis
ccguide Saturday 18 Aug 2001 Pubdate: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2001 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502 RULES FOR CANNABIS IT is perhaps not surprising that people have been calling around town, looking for a good source of cannabis. The flurry of calls to clinics and support groups for deathly ill people has been sparked by the fact the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is legal in Canada. It is equally unsurprising their efforts have delivered little relief and a lot of frustration. It is but a glimpse into the bureaucratic nightmare Parliament is setting up in its attempts to maintain legal controls over a weed that is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. Parliament's efforts would be better spent on the question as to whether cannabis and its use need to be confined by law at all. The evidence, particularly that weighed in B.C. and Ontario court decisions, shows that marijuana poses little threat to a person's health. On the other hand, there is ample anecdotal evidence that cannabis holds powerful properties for relieving pain and nausea. Parliament, on the heels of court decisions, has written rules as to how the terminally ill or others who are sick and suffering can use marijuana legally. This solution is no more useful than it is logical. Canada is criminalizing people who use a relatively benign drug for recreational purposes, while making sick people jump through hoops to use the same substance in situations in which its benefits or harm are not scientifically proven. Doctors, understandably, are equally unhappy about the new regime. They are asked, on scarce evidence, to determine who among these people will benefit from marijuana and then submit the paperwork required to ensure everyone is complying with the law. It will only get more complicated as time wears on and people's patience wears thin. It is likely those in dire need will join recreational pot users and continue to buy it illegally, risking criminal charges, fuelling an underground market frequented by the truly criminal element, and worse, perhaps further imperiling their health as there is no control over the quality and purity of street cannabis. This curious exercise may prove of some use, however, as the Senate and House of Commons committees weighing the value of Canada's marijuana laws will have to take notice. As the accumulating evidence points more and more clearly toward legalization, the government should reflect upon how best to control this drug. Cannabis is a mind-altering drug; it is dangerous to operate heavy equipment or drive a vehicle under its influence. Like tobacco and alcohol, it will need regulation. Governments may want to control its sale and levy taxes. People surely will expect rules enforced over its content and purity. Federal and provincial justice ministers should be discussing the roles the two levels of government ought to play. U.S. authorities will need reassurance that Canada will not become a haven for criminal gangs smuggling marijuana into the U.S. All of this needs to be considered prior to legalization. Parliament and the government should organize a logical process of debate and policy development so as to make Canada's restrictions over marijuana relevant, appropriate and workable. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!