We Must Not Encourage Marijuana Use

David Kilgour, MP Edmonton Mill Woods - Beaumont

Ottawa Citizen, March 14, 2005

Opinion, A13

It was troubling to see the Citizen provide space on the front of its news pages, just under the photos of the four murdered RCMP officers, for Dan Gardner to offer readers his views on the legalization of marijuana ("For years, everyone saw this coming," March 5).

His opinion piece makes the case that marijuana use is relatively less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and therefore should be legalized in order to eradicate most of the problems related to it, including law-enforcement ones.

Some of today's marijuana is more potent than in earlier years and the effects can be more intense. The drug is also believed to cause other health problems, including respiratory damage, impaired memory and decreased motivation. There are links between marijuana use and other drugs, which may result from participation in circles where these products circulate. And what of the cannabis-dependence syndrome in which users feel compelled to continue despite adverse effects?

The latest phenomenon, at least in northern Alberta, has been to combine marijuana with "crystal meth" as an "exciting" new cocktail. No one tells customers that "meth" is one of the most addictive chemicals on Earth and that most people become "hooked" after even just one or two uses, that there is currently no effective treatment for it, and that a few dealers in the region are making up to a million dollars a month selling such products to children as young as 10.

A shift toward permissiveness through legalization or decriminalization of marijuana would thus be a serious policy error. It would send the wrong signal not only to younger Canadians, but to organized crime.

To couple such a move with attempts to deal more severely with those who grow and sell the product only gives Canadians of all ages the baffling message that "use is legal; sale is illegal."

Attempts to legalize drugs in some other jurisdictions have usually been quickly reversed. For example, in the mid-1980s, Spain softened its drug laws, only to strengthen them when the country became a major trans-shipment destination.

In Zurich, Switzerland, the legalization of open drug use within the confines of the now infamous Platzpitz, or "Needle Park," resulted in a 30-per-cent increase in crime in the surrounding area and also tripled the mortality rate among drug users within a five-year period. The park was closed in 1992 due to public pressure; in a 1998 referendum, Swiss voters overwhelming rejected legalizing the sale of all banned drugs throughout the country.

Substance abuse is already having a serious effect in many parts of Canada. In 1992, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse estimated that such activities were costing more than $18.45 billion annually. This represented about $649 per Canadian at the time, with illegal drug use alone costing about $48 per person.

The largest cost items were premature death and lost productivity due to illness. Since then substance abuse, overall, appears to have worsened.

There is one point on which all sides of the debate agree: "Demand breeds supply." Reducing demand for marijuana and other substances can be achieved in many ways.

For example, approximately one out of three ads in our print and electronic media promotes drugs and drug use in some form. The attitudes they foster towards legal drugs can affect the way consumers think about drugs generally. More responsibility is required in media advertising codes and practices.

Research indicates that anti-substance-abuse programs should involve families, schools, community and faith organizations in order to be most effective. A number of school-based programs appear to offer real hope, especially if they can offer programming targeted specifically at the primary risk factors for adolescent drug use.

The quality of family life and parent-child communication play an important role in preventing substance use. Parents can make a major difference in curbing teenage drug use.

Finally, the observation of Peter Vamos at the Montreal World Conference on Drugs and Society to the Year 2000 remain relevant: "As long as the wars on drugs are declared by politicians and are fought only by bureaucrats, the police and the professional communities, the results are doomed. But if the whole population of each nation is mobilized by its leadership, by focusing attention on the real issues and giving the problem its due priority, then we collectively can shrug off the terrible yoke of a drug-infested society."

David Kilgour is the Liberal member of Parliament for Edmonton--Mill Woods--Beaumont.