Drug Arrest

In the past week there were a number of arrests of individuals who were working in or own "drug dispensaries". For the handful of people who do not know what a drug dispensary is - it is a store that sells marijuana. There were arrests in a number of cities including Toronto and Duncan, BC. In Toronto the (self proclaimed?) Prince of Pot, Marc Emery and his wife Jodie were arrested; in Duncan the people who were apprehended were just locals with no fame.

On one hand, such arrests are absurd. The Le Dain Commission in 1972 recommended that simple possession of marijuana not be a crime. Other jurisdictions including some police have advocated, at the very least, for modifications of the law to prevent young people from getting criminal record.  I, for years have been advocating for the need to decriminalize all drugs following the lead of such countries as Portugal. Our anti-drug laws make no sense. They only increase the profits for those who make money from selling drugs, waste valuable resources of the criminal justice system, facilitate unhealthy lifestyles and ensure the existence of an underground economy. To conduct such raids on non-violent individuals, especially in a week when various media outlets are suggesting that our court system is over-whelmed and are releasing people who are alleged to have committed violent crimes is well beyond silly. The fact that it appears as if the federal government has said that by this summer Canada will regulate the sale of marijuana only makes the most recent arrest look vindictive upon the part of low level bureaucrats.

On the other hand, the operation of such dispensaries is clearly illegal. The people who own and operate them know this. I suspect that they have their lawyers on speed dial. The workers who are paid to sell drugs know that what they are doing is illegal. The excuse that other people are doing so it must mean that it is okay - didn't work when, as a young teenager, I tried it with my parents and it doesn't work now. What I find particularly offensive is the rational that some of the owners and workers are using to justify their breaking of the law. There appear to be three main arguments.

1) That they are providing medicine. If ones reads some of the comments from owners, marijuana has been proven to cure everything from some 4th stage cancers to bad acne. It can alleviate the tremours in people with Parkinson's disease  as well as reduce epileptic seizures in children with epilepsy. Marijuana also helps people living with such mental illnesses such as bi-polar disorder and PTSD. All of those claims may be true - I have not read the scientific evidence proving those cures but I am prepared to believe that some plant based medicines can alleviate symptoms or cause cures. But the data is not there yet. For sellers of a drug to promise such cures is, at best, pure snake oil salesmanship.

2) That marijuana is only a herb that has been used for thousands of years. Again that is very possibly true. However what is being sold now is of a far different potency that what was available when Le Dain wrote his report or what the  beatniks of the 1950s smoked. The current crop is as similar to the stuff available in the 1920s as is our modern day peaches and cream corn-on-the -cob to the corn people ate before the Spanish conquest of Central America. Not even close.

3) That using marijuana is sacred. Again I can accept that for some cultures, smoking or ingesting various substances can be part of a ritual. I will even accept that that is true for some modern users of marijuana. But only the most dishonest of rationalisers would argue that the most of the users of the dispensary in Toronto were not there for recreation purposes.  

Those who were arrested have two choices. They can confess that they knew it was illegal but were prepared to open a store to make money; that they hoped that by establishing themselves before it became legal that they would already have a customer base when it became legal to sell (and therefore prepared to face the consequences). OR they were committing an act of civil disobedience (and therefore prepared to face the consequences)  .

I personally like the second reason - I just don't think it is true for most of those arrested. Regardless - whether or not they are just out to make money or are protesting a silly and unfair law - the consequences are the same. Stop complaining about how unfair it is.