Why Every Good Conservative Should Support Marijuana Legalization

In Canada, as in the United States of America, those most opposed to the legalization of marijuana, even just for medicinal use, are those on the right side of the political spectrum, a.k.a. conservatives. So this article is directed specifically at them in order to demonstrate why it is that they are on the wrong side of the battle.

Conservatives platform generally consists of; fiscally responsibility, family values, tough on crime, and pro big business. I think I covered the main concerns of the average Conservative. Well legalizing marijuana is a good thing for all of these points let explain how.

Fiscal Responsibility

According to a 2002 report from the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs the cost of enforcing the anti-marijuana laws is around $1-$1.5 billion dollar each year. With an effective taxation and regulation system this could turn marijuana from a drain on Canada’s coffers into an income source. If both the province and the federal governments imposed a fair tax on the production and sale of marijuana the windfall to the government would be huge.

Family Values

Ok I know, you are all wondering about this one aren’t you. I am not going to claim that legalizing marijuana would encourage families to stay together because they will all smoke up together or anything silly like that. What will happen though is people won’t be going to jail just for toking up, less people would be running dangerous and illegal grow ops in their family homes.

Tough on Crime

Ok relaxing laws can rarely be argued as a way to be tougher on crime, but lets examine the logic of why you would want to be tough on crime. The primary reason to be tough on crime is to decrease overall crime rates and make everyone safer. Grand idea, I fully support being tough on actual crimes. Remove the silly ban on cannabis and you instantly reduce crime by quite a bit, in 2003 there were 60,670 cannabis related crimes reported to police, that’s a hefty number. The second reason removing the marijuana law would be a method for being tougher on crime is it allows police to go after actual violent criminals instead of chasing after harmless potheads, it also frees up jail space for real criminals so you can make sentences tougher without increasing the need for more prisons.

Pro Big Business

Does anyone doubt that the second marijuana becomes legal big tobacco companies that have been hurt by the anti smoking sentiment are not going to jump on this new cash crop? I am sure a number of large corporations are just salivating at the thought of being able to cut into the huge piece of pie that is the marijuana industry.

Other Conservative Concerns

Ok so I covered the main bases, but what about considering the actual conservative voters rather then just the party platform. Conservatives are extremely successful in rural areas, in other words farmers love the cons. Consider the power vote that Conservatives would get if they turned to farmers and said ok we have a new crop you are allowed to cultivate, it is one of the best intermediary crops possible, and every part of the plant is extremely valuable. The flowers are valuable as smokable marijuana and the stalks have excellent fibers for just about any use from making paper to rope.

So if you are a conservative (if you are reading this blog you probably aren’t, your most likely left leaning) I highly recommend you give marijuana a second thought and talk to your party about why weed needs to be looked at again.