Blazing away our economic woes

BC bud is legendary and illegal. It has been raved about, criticized, and grown in numerous basements, barns, and living rooms across the province. Clearly, it’s not going anywhere.

Growing marijuana is not limited to only BC, but this province seems to be the area of Canada where cannabis culture is strongest. With limited legalization of marijuana in certain US states, Canadian pot policy seems to be lagging behind.

This election, pot regulation hasn’t been as much of a hot button topic as in the past, due to more pressing matters such as foreign policy and the economy taking precedence. Drugs legalisation usually isn’t considered part of a solution to a problem, but in this case pot can contribute to solving one of Canada’s problems — and I’m not talking about heads of state getting baked and solving global warming while debating which flavour of Dorito is superior.

I’m talking about the economy.

Since the ‘recession economy’ has become a buzzword, you can’t visit any major news website without seeing some article related to it. Usually it focuses on oil or other resources and their falling prices on the global markets. However, there is the marijuana industry, with some estimates, as reported in The Globe and Mail, suggesting its value to be billions of dollars; billions of untaxed, unregulated, unused dollars.

This thriving industry, instead of being embraced and regulated by the Canadian government, is being suppressed through the Criminal Code of Canada. Apparently our lawmakers failed to learn from a little thing called prohibition, but what else can you say other than history repeats itself?

It looks like our lawmakers failed to learn from a little thing called prohibition.

These billions of dollars are only the tax revenue that could be generated. There would also be a significant reduction in the amount of money spent within all levels of the legal system. The current system of minimal sentences for pot-related offences not only ignores a potential source of government revenue, but also takes resources away from more important legal matters.

Those who disagree may argue that to keep laws the way they are would stop people from downward spiralling from using progressively stronger drugs. While the ‘pot is a gateway drug’ argument works as a fairly decent scare tactic for 10-year-olds, I’d argue that it ignores the larger socioeconomic and health-based reasons for addiction.

While some addicts are perfectly happy with their lifestyle, they are the minority. Most people would rather be healthy and addiction-free. The additional tax revenue being brought in would help contribute towards a more effective plan for treating addiction. These new funds could also contribute to a better affordable housing strategy.

While not a single party advocates for pot to help in fixing the Canadian economy, the four main political parties have all taken a specific stance on the legalization of marijuana. The Conservative party is not budging on their hardline anti-legalization, anti-decriminalization Nixonian view towards the drug. The NDP is pro-decriminalization, but not full legalization of the drug; not until a committee could decide on a more suitable path towards full legalization.

The Liberals are for immediate full legalization, regulating every part of the industry from production to the point of sale. The Green Party forms some form of hybrid between the NDP and the Liberals, but with more of a focus on addiction aspects, with the hope that pot will be like tobacco, and Canada can still become “smoke free.”

The thought that a currently illegal drug could help solve some of Canada’s economic woes may seem strange to some Canadians, but for me it fits with the unique history of our great nation. We are a country that has been built on the foundations laid by trailblazers, memorable characters, strong personalities, and progressives. Changing how the nation perceives pot will take time and effort, but Canadians are nothing if not willing to work open-mindedly toward positive changes.