The inadequacies of Canada’s Drug Policy are once again in the media as a recent Toronto Judge has ruled that charges cannot be laid on a minor, possession of marijuana offence due to the former Liberal government’s medicinal marijuana policy. This is a serious issue for many Canadians, given that more Canadians than any other nationality in the developed world use marijuana, roughly 16% as compared to just over 3% for the rest of the world.
What’s the deal with marijuana? Although it shares the same illegal status as drugs like heroine and cocaine, can it really be compared to these other substances?
A recent British study reported in the Lancet magazine in March of 2007, has shown that marijuana is noticeably less destructive than other legal substances. In the study, there were three indicators used to determine the harm associated with any drug: the physical harm to the user, the drug's potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. Maraijuana scored the 11th spot on their list, while both alcohol and cigarettes were listed in the top ten (with alcohol at #5).
If our laws are based on protecting the individual and society, shouldn’t alcohol and cigarettes be made illegal along with marijuana? If you support this study’s results, than it follows that the only reason that marijuana continues to be illegal is because it continues to be less socially acceptable than other legal substances.
This begs the question: Does our legal system exist to protect our society and individuals from harm, or does it exist to enforce social norms and conventions? If our Drug Policy is any indication, the latter is clearly a strong reference point.
So how harmful is the herb? While few people would argue that weed is a ‘healthy’ pastime, a study reported by CNN in 2005 shows that workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages actually suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana. If this is the case, and marijuana used in moderation is not physically or mentally harmful, than where is the argument that it should remain illegal?
Although I am not an avid or frequent user of marijuana, I fail to see how the existing policy benefits our larger society, and doesn’t hinder the lives of roughly 16% of Canadians. Canada’s drug policy is at best arbitrary and there is little scientific evidence to continue supporting the status quo. At the very least, a review of Canada’s Drug Policy is severely needed, coupled by a serious look at the implications for the decriminalization of marijuana. Any future decision must be based on the mounting scientific and legal evidence that marijuana should be decriminalized and made a controlled substance in Canada.
(http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/07/09/canada-cannabis.html)
(http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/07/13/pot-toronto.html?ref=rss)
(http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/22/text.iq/)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
A Political Patent?
Ideas are the ammunition of politics. Sure it takes a savvy spin doctor and a shameless media shark to make them fashionable, marketable and appealing, but ultimately the crux of any policy, and thus any party, is the idea.
In almost all other industries ideas are closely guarded secrets that emerge only after they have secured a patent, surrounded by a copyright and heralded by a team of lawyers waiting to pounce. Inventions, screenplays, novels, marketing strategies – all are tightly guarded property. Avril Lavigne is learning this lesson the hard way.
But what about politics? This is the industry in which ideas almost constantly have an impact on our daily lives – yet there is no patent for political ideas. The Nova Scotia NDP have been derided in public by their liberal and Tory counterparts, yet in private these parties are secretly leafing through the NDP platform for succulent drops of policy creativity. You can almost hear them in their caucus offices, sitting below posters of Jack Layton comically compared to Marx and Lenin, meanwhile carefully deconstructing NDP policy points for ways to rejig and re-release in proudly packaged red or blue jackets.
“Buy local!” says Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald. What a novel idea! What page of the New Democrat platform was that on? “Cut the home heating tax!” you hear them say, another zinger from the Tories! It takes a great deal of creative skill of course to copy/paste properly!
I cannot harp on the Tories as if this is a prerogative unique to them. There is no secret that some of the great cornerstones of our country were those policies “liberally” adopted over the decades from the New Democrats. From Healthcare to affordable Housing, and even the Bill of Rights, the NDP have always traded the prospect of power for the basic implementation of their policies. But the party “of the Charter” would never courteously give kudos to the “Socialist Hoards”.
The reality is, ideas in politics are always up for grabs as soon as they fly off the shelf. Is this a bad thing? Probably not. While the newest tracks and the latest Harry Potter book will be soundly secured by copyright legislation, the creative contributions of Canada’s political parties will be torn apart and reinvented time and again by those tired policy-makers in Canada’s Big Parties. And from my perspective, Canada is all the better for it. Canadian Social Democrats are proud of the contributions we have made to the fabric of the nation, not a roster of Prime Ministers. Besides, wasn’t it a Canadian who invented the light bulb, not Edison? But doesn’t it work just the same?
In almost all other industries ideas are closely guarded secrets that emerge only after they have secured a patent, surrounded by a copyright and heralded by a team of lawyers waiting to pounce. Inventions, screenplays, novels, marketing strategies – all are tightly guarded property. Avril Lavigne is learning this lesson the hard way.
But what about politics? This is the industry in which ideas almost constantly have an impact on our daily lives – yet there is no patent for political ideas. The Nova Scotia NDP have been derided in public by their liberal and Tory counterparts, yet in private these parties are secretly leafing through the NDP platform for succulent drops of policy creativity. You can almost hear them in their caucus offices, sitting below posters of Jack Layton comically compared to Marx and Lenin, meanwhile carefully deconstructing NDP policy points for ways to rejig and re-release in proudly packaged red or blue jackets.
“Buy local!” says Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald. What a novel idea! What page of the New Democrat platform was that on? “Cut the home heating tax!” you hear them say, another zinger from the Tories! It takes a great deal of creative skill of course to copy/paste properly!
I cannot harp on the Tories as if this is a prerogative unique to them. There is no secret that some of the great cornerstones of our country were those policies “liberally” adopted over the decades from the New Democrats. From Healthcare to affordable Housing, and even the Bill of Rights, the NDP have always traded the prospect of power for the basic implementation of their policies. But the party “of the Charter” would never courteously give kudos to the “Socialist Hoards”.
The reality is, ideas in politics are always up for grabs as soon as they fly off the shelf. Is this a bad thing? Probably not. While the newest tracks and the latest Harry Potter book will be soundly secured by copyright legislation, the creative contributions of Canada’s political parties will be torn apart and reinvented time and again by those tired policy-makers in Canada’s Big Parties. And from my perspective, Canada is all the better for it. Canadian Social Democrats are proud of the contributions we have made to the fabric of the nation, not a roster of Prime Ministers. Besides, wasn’t it a Canadian who invented the light bulb, not Edison? But doesn’t it work just the same?
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