Maybe It’s Time

Justin Trudeau sure created a stir this week with his statement that he would support legalizing marijuana.  It sure got the Conservatives in attack mode.  Of course you would expect that from them, wouldn’t you? The NDP got upset as well, but that’s probably because they didn’t think of it first. It also got me thinking.  Maybe it’s time.

Politicians have talked about decriminalization of marijuana for some time.  This was seen as a progressive move because it would spare “recreational” users of a criminal record, but would, somehow, keep marijuana illegal. People would get a ticket, like a parking ticket, if they were caught with the stuff. This never did seem a viable approach to me.  It’s like saying it is a little bit okay but it’s really not. 

It is also obvious that a lot of people use marijuana using drug dealers for their supply, and many of those drug dealers are associated with criminal organizations. So the present situation is not working other than making some unsavoury characters rich.

What Mr. Trudeau is proposing is to legalize and regulate the drug, much as how we deal with alcohol today.  The success of this venture will depend on a number of things.  First, because legal marijuana regulation and distribution will undoubtedly fall under provincial jurisdiction, all provinces must agree to set up fairly similar rules and controls.  Secondly, easy means of determining marijuana intoxication must be found.  Employers, for example, will need to able to detect on-the-job marijuana use and be able to control its use in the workplace.  Do you really want your next car to be assembled by a few spaced out workers?  Third, society must adapt to the fact that marijuana is now a socially acceptable substance to imbibe.  As with alcohol, society will have to determine when it is socially acceptable to use the stuff; whether, for example, hosts would be expected to provide marijuana for interested guests. 

It would take time to adapt to the recognized presence of marijuana in our day to day world.  But if successful, what would be the upside?

The first result should be a significant reduction in the availability of marijuana as a street drug, available to any kid who wants it and can pay for it.  Legal toking age should be one of the laws governing its use.  Second, it will give the governments another source of revenue from the sale of the product.  I am a believer in the various liquor control boards and believe in the same sort of distribution network for marijuana.  Similarly, since the normal use of the drug is to smoke it, I believe that its use in public places should be regulated like all smoking.  Third, it will free up police forces from having to enforce marijuana use in order for them to concentrate on more dangerous substances and offences. 

In some ways the changes that will have to be made to introduce marijuana are the same legal and societal changes that were necessary when prohibition was repealed in the United States in the 1930s, and the easing of restrictions in Canada in the same era.  Most of you probably can’t remember taverns with separate entrances and rooms for men and women, or the liquor outlets where you had to fill out a piece of paper with your order which sent a man into a back room to retrieve the vile substance.  It is doable to introduce marijuana into the legal world as long as governments at different levels, regulatory regimes and society as a whole accept it and strive to make it work.

Not that I intend to ever imbibe in the stuff myself.