The Hazards of Pot Decriminalization

Canada is stumbling toward some sort of official pot decriminalization. But that won't necessarily be a good thing for Canuck heads, as this column in Canada's National Post argues.

It is possible the authors are being tongue-in-cheek when they write:
"Legalization will destroy commercial freedom -- especially that of small growers and dealers -- and transform the marijuana industry into another sad Canadian example of overtaxation, overregulation and oligopoly. The regulatory process will be debauched, soon serving mainly to crush competition.

Grow your own? Forget it. The Cannabis Marketing Board, a Crown agency stuffed with Liberal appointees and accountable to no one, will regulate every facet of cultivation, production, processing and marketing. Large producers using factory farms and wage-earning employees will lobby first for subsidies, then to eliminate small growers. Weirdos who defy the system will be busted, clapped in irons, and have their property confiscated. The mainstream news media will portray them as rednecks, extremists and -- worse -- as selfish men who refuse to accept the benefits of a socialized industry."

Alas, tongue-in-cheek or no, they are also probably right. Decriminalization or medicalization of drugs does not mean drug freedom.