by Michael Padbury

Created on: March 03, 2007   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

How can a substance that is used by over 2.5 million Canadians (Young, 2003: 117), has never caused a death through consumption, and is relatively harmless when compared to tobacco and alcohol (and aspirin for that matter) be illegal in Canada? That is the question that many Canadians - especially users of cannabis (marijuana) - are pondering about the current legal state of this benign substance (when used responsibly). The cannabis prohibition affects almost every Canadian be it direct (users, growers, etc.), or indirect (victims of marijuana-related violence, taxpayers). The prohibition of cannabis takes time, effort, and money, from the Canadian Government, Canadian Police Force/ R.C.M.P. and various other groups/ organizations (MADD, Revenue Canada) despite failing miserably at its goal of deterring users, and eradicating the illegal cannabis market in Canada. The current legal state of cannabis fails at doing an efficient job to deter users and others associated with the cannabis market. It creates an extremely profitable black market for the substance and also creates dangerous violence between gangs involved in this market. The illegal nature of cannabis causes the substance to be sold for about 3 times as much as in legal settings in Canada. "In 2000, Canadian cannabis consumers annually spent at least $1.8 billion on bud (cannabis). Almost as much as Canadians spent on tobacco - $2.3 billion."(Mulgrew, 2005: 1) The Canadian government spends over $340 million maintaining cannabis prohibition (Hunter, 2003). We propose that the best solution to this dilemma is full legalization and a conclusion to marijuana prohibition in Canada. The product will be government regulated (much like alcohol) and sold to individuals who are of the age of 19.

The gripping argument around the illegality of cannabis is the sheer financial and economical force that it entails. If legalized it would be subject to "sin taxes" much like legal, yet more harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol. Retailing at a modest price of $7 a gram (the current retail price in our area is $10 a gram), the Canadian government would earn well over $2 billion in sin tax revenue. This legislation would also alleviate the costs of maintaining cannabis prohibition which costs over $340 million to the Canadian Government. (Hunter, 2003) With marijuana being a legal substance, all individuals earning revenue from this substance would discontinue the trend of tax evasion, linked with illegal marijuana

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