#Pot or not?

Canada's current government, a Liberal majority elected a few weeks ago, had the legalization of marijuana as a plank in their election platform.

This past week, the Prime Minister's Office released a letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to his cabinet ministers mandating goals for each government department. The Justice Minister is mandated to: "Along with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Health Minister Jane Philpott, Wilson-Raybould will also create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana." http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-crime-justice-reform-1.3317891

Here is my letter outlining my opposition to the legalization of cannabis that I emailed today to Canada's Justice Minister with a copy to my MP, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition. Please note: For my safety, I have redacted the names of the criminal gangs and identifiable groups that I mentioned in my letter to the Members of Parliament.

Subject: Opposition to cannabis legalization‏

Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould

Justice Minister

I wish to outline my opposition to the legalization/decriminalization of marijuana and none of it has to do with the effect the drug has on a person’s physical and/or mental health. I will leave those arguments to those with expertise in that area.

My expertise lays in the area of gangs and the illicit drug trade. I am a volunteer with XXXXXX, a crime novelist and speaker, and a psychiatric nurse and journalist by training.

I feel compelled to jump into the fray on this issue because of my passion for youth and my desire to thwart the power of criminal gangs who prey on the vulnerable and make huge coin doing so.

In brief, here are my objections:

• Legalizing marijuana (pot) will be legalizing a major money-making product of dangerous and violent criminal gangs, most notably the XXXXXXXXX. It is not likely they will give up their hold on the production and distribution of this lucrative and ‘safe’ side of their business. Nor is it likely they will pay taxes on it, guarantee the safety of the product, or refrain from adulterating it with addictive substances (as our regular tobacco companies are known to have done.

• Unlike Prohibition where the violent gangs dissipated once alcohol again became legal, there are no legitimate businesses experienced in pot production and distribution able to take over the trade. The XXXXXXXXXare the experts in this and are well prepared, financed and set up to continue plying this product when it becomes legal. They would have no need to give it up. They would have little to no competition and they possess the full power necessary to stifle anyone who does want to compete. (Gang wars and gang violence—they do it now, legalizing the product won’t stop that!)

• The Okanagan, the Niagara Peninsula—former fruit orchards now taken over by vineyards as the wine industry took hold. We must consider if we want to see our wheat and canola fields replaced by lucrative hemp crops.

• How much money, time and resources do we want to spend to ensure Canadian citizens have a safe and secure supply of recreational pot?  What makes sense here? If taxes on pot are expected to offset the expenses of monitoring and regulating the pot industry, we must consider how compliant we believe the gangs will be in submitting taxes due. Will private individuals growing pot feel compelled to monetarily contribute to the safety of the industry? How involved will XXXXXXXXX be in the production and distribution? XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

• Hydroponic operations not done properly pose many risks, most notably electrical and mold issues. If pot is legal, will we be able to shut down unsafe production?

• Profits from pot will undoubtedly continue to be used by gangs to finance illicit activities (illegal arms trade, human trafficking, cocaine trade, computer crimes, etc.). With legalization of pot, we will have no way to interrupt this flow of dollars to the dark side which could result in an increase in these illegal and often violent activities.

• To provide Canadians a safe, secure, legal supply of recreational pot we will need to use tax dollars to finance:
• continuous and ongoing inspection of production to ensure it is being safely done.
•  continuous and ongoing inspection of the product to ensure there are no harmful or addictive additives.
• enforcement of sales to ensure pot is not being sold to our youth.
•  creating, enforcing, maintaining a system of taxation of pot.
•  creating new laws to address issues such as sales to minors, the use of additives,  safe production, acceptable marketing and distribution,  taxation, impairment; and providing ongoing enforcement of such laws. 

These expenses do not include costs that may arise from dealing with health issues or social problems arising from the predicted increase in pot use should it be legalized ( http://www.cbc.ca/1.3312151), or costs associated with increased illicit gang activities.

Once again I must ask, how many taxpayers’ dollars and how much time and resources does the Government of Canada want to invest in providing Canadians with a safe and secure supply of recreational marijuana?

When considering the legalization issue, I strongly recommend you collaborate with the RCMP's drug and criminal gang experts to ascertain the validity of the risks mentioned above and take their advice very seriously.

The XXXXXXXXX are an extremely powerful gang--don't underestimate its power.

Sincerely,

Eileen Schuh, Author
DISPASSIONATE LIES
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/fs-fd/org-eng.htm

Did you know...Cannabis generates more revenue for organized crime than cocaine does? Excerpt from the RCMP Report on the Illicit Drug Situation in Canada — 2009 "Cannabis continued to be the most commonly used illicit substance in Canada, with domestically-produced marihuana providing a source of considerable profit for Canadian based organized crime. Next to marihuana, cocaine generated the most revenue of the illicit drug commodities." http://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/grc-rcmp/PS61-14-2009-eng.pdf

#Pot or not? has been brought to you by:

 THE BACKTRACKER SERIES

"Cops vs bikers on the Alberta prairie...oh, and throw in a 13-year old girl." 

A puff of pot...harmless?

The liberal leader of Canada, Justin Trudeau, admitted to the media he smoked pot, even after becoming a member of parliament. Being the mothering-type that I am and being passionately anti-drug and anti-gang I felt compelled to slap his hands on his facebook page

I wrote: "In my eyes it is not acceptable to engage in criminal behaviour and even more unacceptable for public officials to do so. If Canada's Criminal Code needs reforming, reform it, don't break the law.  It is totally irresponsible to commit criminal acts while in public office and beyond me why someone would choose to do so for the tiny pleasure a puff of pot might deliver. Smoking marijuana lends financial and PR support to a vast, wealthy and violent network of organized crime." I realized it was not only Trudeau who needed a bit of education about the true nature of the drug business when someone replied, "Your last sentence is outlandish!" To which I posted the link to the RCMP report on the illicit drug trade in Canada with a sentence from the opening paragraph: "Cannabis continued to be the most commonly used illicit substance in Canada, with domestically-produced marihuana providing a source of considerable profit for Canadian-based organized crime." This quickly shifted the conversation from the morality of Trudeau smoking pot (and thus engaging in criminal behaviour) to the whether or not pot should be legalized. Decriminalizing pot, they said, would lessen the power of the gangs and reduce their profits. I refused to engage in that discussion, noting "Trudeau wasn't decriminalizing pot, he was smoking it--which does nothing to lessen the strength of organized crime, but rather enhances it and further lines the pockets of the drug lords." and "I stand by my assertion that Trudeau smoking marijuana lends financial and PR support to a vast, wealthy and violent network of organized crime. To me, the benefits of him smoking pot do not outweigh that negative." "I apologize if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding Trudeau was not smoking pot as a political statement or for medical reasons or to incite a change in our laws but rather for his personal enjoyment of the effects of this illicit drug--a poor reason to engage in criminal activities-- IMHO." I also mentioned his behaviour being an affront to the men and women who dedicate their lives and at times risk it to uphold Canada's laws. So you can decide how I did in that argument while I proceed to flip to the "legalize pot" argument. Who among you thinks gangs (like the Hells Angels in particular) would willingly and easily give up their "considerable profits"?  You probably answered that correctly, so take your thinking to the next step, what will they do, in the face of legalization, to keep their market share? Will they mix their 'legal' product with illegal, addictive substances? Well, don't dismiss that so easily--the tobacco companies mixed all sorts of chemicals into their products to make it more addictive.  Will you and your neighbours and friends and family be willing to put forth tax dollars to monitor the quality and purity of this legalized pot?  Will profitable pot fields replace food crops on the nation's farmland? (Like cocaine vs coffee beans down south.) Will our drug lords find a way to profitably export our legal pot to places where it is not legal?  Just how badly do we need marijuana as a recreational drug? What are we willing to pay, financially and socially to get it? As the criminal element struggles to retain their profits, how much violence, fraud, danger are we willing to deal with? Or will we just let the criminal element control the legal pot market, retain their profits, retain their power--produce, manufacture, distribute, export whatever quantity of whatever quality they want? Well? How badly you want it, people?  Will I forgive Trudeau for smoking pot? On a moral level, yes. I doubt he was aware of the ramifications of his behaviour. His mother, in her autobiography, tells of smoking pot so he was likely raised with a more positive view of the drug than I was. But at a political level, I'm more hard-nosed. Being in position of power and trust requires a certain level of behaviour. Teachers understand--they won't swear in the classroom, wear revealing clothes, or engage in criminal behaviour. I volunteer for law enforcement and I understand--I'm not going to be caught speeding, jay-walking, or smoking pot. People in power who ignore that protocol show disregard for both themselves and those who look up to them for guidance and leadership. They can find themselves victims of blackmail, which can have dire effects on the performance of their duties. Blackmailers don't always want money: they may want favours, data, insider info, special considerations. Someone who wants to lead my country, ought to have been aware of all that, ought to have made better decisions, ought to have acted more maturely. Why would one risk one's dreams for a puff of pot?  "A puff of pot" has been brought to you by THE TRAZ School Edition "How easy it is for even an intelligent person to slip into bad choices...” “...a great adventure into the lives of bike gangs & issues involving young people.” "...bad choices can easily spiral out of control until there is no simple way out."