Trudeau and the Liberal Party's campaign promise to legalize marijuana might not materialize any time soon, if at all.
Internationally, drug policies largely remain regressive and repressive control mechanisms that are apparently hell-bent on further fuelling drug-related violence by empowering criminal cartels. So any attempt to take progressive steps away from the monumental failure known as prohibition will face resistance from the UN over international law.
Yet Washington and Colorado ó as well as other US states looking at legalization ó didn't seem too concerned with what the UN or the international community would say. Neither did Uruguay, Amsterdam or Portugal, where drugs are not technically legal but have been decriminalized for some 15 years.
In all of these places, the situation has not only failed to deteriorate ó as proponents of prohibition would have people believe ó it has arguably improved. Anyone with an interest to read up on Portugal's approach will learn that drug-related violence is down along with the spread of disease.
In places like Uruguay and Colorado, which went further than Portugal and fully legalized marijuana as opposed to merely decriminalizing it, society also did not fall apart at the seams. The greatest success in all of this has been the reduction of many millions of dollars going into the pockets of cartels.
Instead, government programs can use such money for awareness and rehabilitative programs.
Granted the issue should not be rushed. Among the top fears pushed on the public by those who back prohibition involve children. They claim legalizing marijuana will make it easier for youth to get their hands on it. Apparently, they remain oblivious to the fact that under the current system, it's easier for young people to get pot than booze. That's because licensed establishments won't sell alcohol to minors, while drug dealers have no such concerns.
Still, with such a major shift in policy, every angle must be considered ó where will the product be sold, how will those establishments be regulated, what kind of driver's roadside test could be employed, and so on.
But it's long past due time to roll the ball forward towards more humane policy that treats addicts like human beings who need help as opposed to hardened criminals who deserve to be thrown into a cell.
Trudeau has the opportunity to follow the examples already set by places like Colorado and show the international community there is a better approach to drug policy ó that the way we've done things for decades is not necessarily the right way to go.
Long gone should be the days when governments around the globe battle the drug lords they created through flawed policy.
Let's hope the Liberals have the moral fortitude and the backbone to back their campaign promise to legalize marijuana sooner rather than later, regardless of what the UN or international community says.
Why? Because it's 2016.
