Marijuana laws keep demand, price high, STU professor says
Published Tuesday June 9th, 2009
Until marijuana is decriminalized, production of the drug will continue to be a serious problem in this province, says a criminology professor at St. Thomas University.
"The war on drugs is over a century old now and we still haven't won it despite all of the arrests that have been made over the years, the large seizures," Michael Boudreau said. "As long as we outlaw marijuana, it is going to keep the costs high and the demand high."
Boudreau's comments follow news that the RCMP recently removed close to one million marijuana cigarettes from the illegal drug market in New Brunswick.
Between May 18-25, RCMP seized, among other things, close to 2,000 marijuana plants.
The largest of the busts occurred May 25 near Hartland. More than 1,000 marijuana plants were taken by police - enough to produce up to 500,000 joints.
A week earlier, close to 850 marijuana plants in various stages of growth - enough to produce more than 400,000 marijuana cigarettes - were removed from a residence in Bass River in the Richibucto area.
Another seizure May 25 at a home in Baxters Corner, near Saint John, saw police take possession of around 100 marijuana plants and a pound of harvested marijuana.
Staff Sgt. Gary Hadley, who heads up the drugs/organized crime unit at RCMP J Division, said the recent seizures represent the removal of a huge quantity of the drug from the market.
"These are significant grows for New Brunswick," he said. "Often it ends up in the hands of suppliers at the street level (and this) reaches kids. We have just cut that out."
The fact marijuana grow-ops, capable of producing nearly a million pot cigarettes, exist in New Brunswick highlights an ongoing problem, Boudreau said.
The province needs to put pressure on the federal government to legalize the drug, he said.
"I am not calling for the legalization of things such as heroin or more serious drugs, but the argument that marijuana is the gateway drug is silly."
Until decriminalization occurs, the public should expect to hear and read about more police seizures of marijuana, Boudreau said.
"Unless we see decriminalization, if not outright legalization of marijuana, then this is going to continue to be a serious problem ... and a battle that won't be won."
Boudreau said decriminalization was close a few years ago under the Paul Martin government, but the effort was lost on the order paper when Parliament died. It would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of the drug.
Hadley said he disagrees that decriminalizing marijuana will decrease demand for it.
"As long as the demand is there, there will be people growing it," he said. "Often, it's another way of subsidizing other criminality for other types of harder drugs."
Hadley said RCMP have always considered marijuana to be a gateway to other drugs.
Hadley said his experience working with young and old people shows that marijuana leads to harder drugs.
"It seems that it always turns back to when you make that decision to take drugs. It always goes back, it seems, to marijuana as being the gateway drug to many (other) drugs."
Disabled
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
Comments (15)
All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.
Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.
First, I don't agree with decrimilization. I agree with legalization. What decrimilization does is ensure that a person caught with possession does not get a criminal record. The important part is that the dealer/criminal is still involved. This does not take profits away from drug dealers and does nothing to rid us the dealers profits or existance.
"Often it ends up in the hands of suppliers at the street level (and this) reaches kids. We have just cut that out."
It is easier for kids to purchase cannabis because it is illegal. Cannabis is easier for kids to buy than cigarettes and alcohol. Drug dealers do not ask for ID. If it were legalized, it would be a legitimate business. People could apply for licenses to sell it where only adults could by it. The government or licensed sellers would lose their license, much like cigarettes and alcohol, if they sold to minors.
Millions of Canadians use cannabis regularly. Most are people who you would never think of or suspect. I know people who have used cannabis, and only cannabis, for 30-40 years. They are not drug addicts. Just like all people that drink alcohol are not alcoholics. Cannabis is a public health issue not a legal issue.
I digress. Believe what you want to believe. I hope that in the next 5-10 years, maybe sooner, these laws will cease to exist and everyone will wonder, why was this illegal.
Do you want to take away crime and profits away from drug dealers, legalize it. Why would anyone buy something from a drug dealer than from the government or licensed seller? If you chose to use cannabis, you would never need a dealer or be exposed to the other drugs that a dealer can deal with.
Keeping it illegal keeps profits with the dealers and keep law enforcement busy dealing with cannabis. Imagine the dent the police could make if they only had to deal with drugs that actually killed you. Imagine if they spent $120 Million on policing the other drugs instead of just $40 Million for all other drugs combined. $80 Million is just being spent on cannabis. Even the Fredericton RCMP has a division that only deals with cannabis. Imagine if they focused on hard drugs how effective they would be.
Sure, some people will grow their own, but like homebrewing beer and wine, that's okay. If you want to go to the trouble of growing a few plants, so be it. But for most people, that's too much work for too little return. It would be easier to go to the store and buy it. Most will.
I was going to leave this topic but I cannot.
Your interest and moral outlook in how other people live their lives is really no ones business. As long as no one victimizes anyone, no one really has any business saying that you will have to go to jail for this. Law are made for policy, not determining what personal choices we want the public to follow. People have to be responsible for their own lives. Government or justice should have no part in how a person decides to live their life. I'd rather have room left in jails for people who commit serious crimes that we as a society we deem wrong. Using cannabis should not even be considered with all the other crimes being committed today. Let's put those people in jail that deserve to be in jail and leave people who choose to use cannabis responsibly to their own accord.