The Liberal government does not seem to be taking too seriously its promise to regulate and legalize marijuana.
Sure, the federal party is looking at ways to reform obsolete and arguably draconian drug laws. After all, a permanent criminal record and jail time is rather heavy handed for a non-violent act and use of a substance that indigenous cultures around the world have used for millennia.
But as authorities are still throwing the proverbial book at Canadians whose only “crime” was being in possession of a substance that the government is working to legalize, lives continue to be ruined.
This might not seem like a serious issue to some voters, many of whom were outright dismissive about it before, during and since the election, but it should be a concern to every Canadian.
Here's why.
We must stop penalizing our citizens so harshly over an imagined offence while destroying their potential — anyone who thinks a drug addict should be jailed needs to be consistent and start advocating for the immediate incarceration of alcoholics as well, which of course is a completely preposterous proposition.
In the end, we only shoot ourselves in our collective foot with the huge costs of processing these individuals, not to mention the loss of potential tax revenue from someone who went from studying in post secondary to instead being thrown in the slammer. We'd be kidding ourselves to pretend such instances are not occurring on an all too frequent basis.
The main knee-jerk reaction against calls for the federal government to immediately decriminalize marijuana possession as it works towards regulated legalization is that the move would be akin to giving traffickers carte blanche to ramp up their business without fear of repercussion.
However, there is an ocean — a universe even — of difference between calling to stop arresting and charging citizens for mere possession rather than targeting more specifically those operating the black market trade.
The government is trying to find a way to best regulate the market safely and responsibly, so it's understandable that it is not about to consider allowing traffickers free rein, which is of course perfectly sensible. That being said, the Liberals should strive to take every possible measure to cease and desist the persecution of people over possession alone.
Granted, the new Liberal government is still barely one year into its term and has plenty of work yet cut out to live up to its many promises. It is certainly too early to start bemoaning broken promises on campaign pledges such as marijuana legalization, although that time could very well come at this rate.
But if for whatever reason the government is not prepared to enact temporary decriminalization for mere possession until it has finally come through with legalization, the Liberal Party had better stop dragging its feet and get ready to pardon all the Canadians whose lives it has ruined for no good reason at all.
