The legalization of pot is at hand.  A query from CHCH News today wondered if I could speak against the legalization on "Square Off" with Liz West and Mark Hebscher. My answer of course, was “no”.

I advocate for recovery from addictions, but in doing so I also advocate for sane solutions to the problem.  Currently we live in “The Age of Insanity.” Drug addicts and non-violent offenders fill our jails where drugs are sometimes easier to obtain, and better quality than what is on the street.

If we can’t keep drugs out of our jails how are we going to keep them off our streets and away from our kids? You cannot incarcerate your way to a “drug free society.”

I debated with Jodie Emery, wife of “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery and I found we agreed on about half of whatever it is she is proposing. 

Will somebody please tell this woman she’s won? 

Advocating for “pot smokers on the road” wins you no points.  Nobody, and I mean NOBODY should be impaired by any drug behind the wheel.

Can marijuana be a gateway drug?  Of course it can.  So can tobacco, or Percocet, or newly approved in the U.S. “OxyContin for children”. My point is “What is the fine for selling tobacco to persons under 19?”
 
The days when my mother sent me as a 5 year old to the store on Trethewey Drive to buy her “Black Cat Cork Tip Cigarettes” are long gone.

School kids tell me it’s easier to buy pot than it is to get tobacco.  So, guess what they smoke? (It ain’t Black Cat tobacco, but it would be a good name for a brand of pot, doncha’ think?)

My concern with the reality of legal marijuana is simple.  Alcohol came out of prohibition in 1927 in Ontario and is a heavily taxed product as all drinkers know. However not one cent of the tax on alcohol goes to deal with the problems of alcoholism.  Zero.

We need money dedicated to addiction treatment in Canada.  Waiting lists are 6 – 14 weeks to get a 21 day bed in a government funded treatment centre. However if you get caught with drugs we’ve got a jail cell!

We need a breathalyzer or some equivalent to test for roadside impairment because marijuana is involved in far too many accidents today.

We need sane laws regarding addiction treatment and recovery because too many die today from our indifference.

The marginalized populations dealing with drug abuse are our sons and daughters.  Our friends and relatives. 

All of us are affected by addiction and we need effective measures to deal with the epidemic of addiction today.