Can we Have a "War on Stupid"?

by ScottK
(Merrickville)

Millions of dollars in Canada and billions in the US are spent on the 'war on drugs'. Most of the money is used in enforcement, and much of that goes to combat marijuana.

What has the net impact been? Is marijuana harder to find? Has scarcity even made the price go up? The answers are 'no' and 'no'. Marijuana is easily available, and at a much higher quality, for the same price it was 30 years ago.

Yes, you're typical stoner-grower has proved to be much more efficient than Big Government or Big Business, where costs and quality have followed the opposite curve.

Prohibition has completely failed, and in fact has caused a great deal of harm, by criminalizing a large segment of the population for use of a harmless herb.

Compare this to the approach towards cigarettes, a legal product guaranteed to kill 50% of its consumers. Manufacture and sale is restricted. Measures are put in place to prevent use by under-age youth. It is taxed quite heavily. Taxes pay for for education and smoking cessation programs.

And smoking rates have declined substantially over the same 30 year period.

So, you would think that, if your real goal was to reduce marijuana use, the guvmint would give up on prohibition(which has never worked, for any product, at any time, in any jurisdiction) and try legalization, regulation, taxation, and education.

To do otherwise, you would have to be stupid, right? Well, our Prime Minister has declared that legalization will not happen.

In the immortal words of Forest Gump, 'stupid is as stupid does'.

'nuff said.