Legal marijuana takes dealers off the street

By Letter to the Editor on April 26, 2018.

Re: “Tory argumentson pot legalization don’t add up,” March 31

Thank you to Jeremy Appel for his editorial. He illustrated some of the foolishness offered by the Conservatives in their opposition to marijuana legislation. He quoted silly comments on this issue by Tory MPs Peter Kent and Glen Motz — comments that show choosing not to think is still a strong preference in the Conservative Party of Canada.

Do Messrs. Kent, Motz and the rest of the Tories not understand that selling marijuana is a business? Certainly, for the next few months and, historically for nine or 10 decades, this is and has been an illegal business. The illegality, however, has never stopped some people from carrying it on. This is reality. Effective policy never comes from either ignoring or denying reality, Tory blather notwithstanding.

The practical way to remove criminals from the marijuana business is to legalize it and to impose government controls, just like the business and production and sale of alcohol.

Mr. Motz in particular, having had a long career as a police officer, should easily understand that when a marijuana dealer is taken off the streets by police, a job opportunity is created. Someone will always be ready to take over the job, so to speak, eager to profit from the higher prices that always follow when a product in demand is more scarce. This is very different from police taking a murderer or a pedophile off the streets. In these cases, there is no one waiting in the wings to fill the position. In fact, keeping marijuana illegal would be welcomed by criminals because it would keep the black market open and ensure that the illegal profits would be available.

Anyone who does not want to believe the above should ask how many cases of illegal production and sale of liquor there have been in the last half-century or so. The answer is none, or almost none, and the reason is that there is no demand. Would you rather buy a bottle of who-knows-what from an anonymous sleazy character in a dark alley or would you rather buy it in a liquor store? It is the same with marijuana.

Gregory R. Cote

Irvine, Alta.

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