Solving the Marihuana Problem

Marijuana has been illegal in Canada since 1923 and to date has done nothing to slow down consumption or production of the drug. So what is to be done, obviously the law is not working, its time to rethink it. Readers of this site know I am pro-legalization so it should come as no surprise that my proposal is a legalize, tax, and regulate. In this article I am deliberately leaving out any medicinal marijuana arguments, I do not think that legalizing marijuana for medicinal use alone really changes anything at all.

I doubt anyone reading this site is really opposed to that idea, after all why go to a blog called "Make Marijuana Legal" and expect to see anything different, but just in case let me clarify my position. I do not think kids should be able to spark up before going to school, I do not think you should be able to have a toking break at 4:20pm every day at work. I think that similar controls to alcohol should be placed on marijuana use. Now I am going to lay out my proposed solution, I would love feed back on how to improve it.

Regulate

I believe that essentially every aspect of the process should be regulated, from growth to sale. That doesn't mean I think the cops should shut down the basement grow ops for personal use, but I do think that corporate growth farms, and upon legalization you can bet that there will be a few, should be monitored and regulated to make sure that no additives go into the final product. I believe that the sale of marijuana should be strictly regulated so that no one under the legal drinking age is allowed to purchase marijuana. I also feel that only licensed vendors should be able to sell it.

The implementation of regulating the sale of marijuana would be simple, we already have a system in place. The LCBO in Ontario and each province has a similar board, basically use the same standards.

Taxation

Why add more taxes when the taxes in Canada, particularly in Ontario are amongst the highest in the world, simply because marijuana is not a necessity unless it is for medicinal purposes. My belief in the need to tax marijuana stems from my belief that our basic taxation laws in Canada are flawed and need to be altered. I support a sin tax system where you are taxed according to what excesses you use. So basic necessities such as food are not taxed, but luxuries are taxed higher. Recreational cannabis is a luxury by anyone's definition. The higher the tax the better basically, this would have a much more effective effect in decreasing marijuana use and abuse then any prohibitory law could possibly achieve. Of course since I stated that small grow ops for personal use (ie. a few plants in your basement for you and your family to consume) would be exempt from regulatory laws, so then that is a way around the taxes, but no problem tax the seeds. Taxation of marijuana would bring much needed funds into federal and provincial coffers.

Legalization

Legalizing marijuana would make the marijuana "problem" in Canada all but vanish. It would eliminate the gateway effect of the drug, it would bring in funds to the government, and it would allow police to go after actual criminals instead of chasing after occasional users of a relatively harmless intoxicant. I am not going to claim as some in the legalization movement do that marijuana is a wonder drug with no ill effects, but what I will point out is that there are countless studies done on marijuana, none have conclusively shown any long term negative effects to marijuana as of yet.

Legalization would not mean that you can consume THC any time you please, logic would be the guiding rule. Employers should be able to fire your ass if you come into work high, cops should be able to arrest your ass if you drive high, child protection agencies should be able to take away your child if you are to high to care for your children. Its time for the government to stop babysitting us and start governing.