January 15, 2012 – The Liberal Party of Canada has voted to legalize pot.

Seventy-seven per cent of delegates at the Liberals’ biennial convention told their party’s leadership Sunday morning that they want a future Liberal government to legalize marijuana.

Their interim leader Bob Rae acknowledged the war on drugs hasn’t worked, but told reporters the party’s caucus would have to study the implications of the resolution.

“Frankly, the status quo doesn’t work and that’s what needs to change,” Rae said. “The Liberal Party is saying that the current laws do not work and that we need a new direction.”
It’s now up to us to take that resolution and see exactly what it will mean in terms of policy, because there are some practical questions that we have to look at,” Rae added, noting in French that one such issue would be how to control the supply of legalized pot.

Rae insisted he was at ease defending the principles of the resolution and that he would work with the membership on the issue in the months and years ahead as the party drafts its next election platform.

“I accept that it is the will of the party that was expressed and as leader we will continue to work together,” Rae said.

During a debate on the floor of the Ottawa convention hall, one Liberal delegate, a police officer, told the crowd Canada’s drug policy was misguided.

“This country does not need more prisons, it needs less criminals,” he said.

The resolution, which was brought forward by the party’s youth wing, calls upon a Liberal federal government to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana production, distribution and use while enacting “strict penalties for illegal trafficking, illegal importation and exportation, and impaired driving.”

The resolution also calls for significant investments in prevention and education programs on the harms of marijuana and amnesty for Canadians convicted of simple possession in the past.

Samuel Lavoie, the president of theYoung Liberals of Canada, said he wasn’t sure the resolution would make it into the Liberal party’s next election platform, but that he hoped it would not be ignored.

“I think everyone in the party, not only the interim leader (Bob Rae), but everyone in the party, recognizes that there were 3,000 Liberals here this weekend and that this is a motion which, however controversial, passed with more than 75% of support, so I think it would be difficult for anyone to just ignore the result and the will of the membership,” he said.

Liberals should stop being scared of any soft on crime label the Conservative Party might give the party, Lavoie added.

“The Conservative staffers in the Prime Minister’s office will never vote for the Liberal party,” Lavoie said. “We are talking to Canadians, the fact is this is a sensible policy, an evidence-based policy that is very easy to defend and polls show that we have a majority of support amongst Canadians. There is a cross-partisan support amongst non-conservative voters for this. So we feel like this is something that will get us votes not lose us votes,” he said.

More than 1,400 delegates took part in the vote. If Liberal members re-affirm the motion in two years during another policy process, the Liberal leader will still have the right to veto any part of the election platform under current rules. By Althia Raj. Source.

December 10, 2010 – The drug war has cost Americans over one trillion tax dollars, of that more money has been spent on marijuana crimes than any other drug including methamphetamine, heroin, or cocaine. The lost productivity of the millions of working tax payers devastated, and rendered unemployable, after being convicted of a marijuana crime is costing us billions more. Many who were economic assets have now become economic liabilities of the state — sometimes for life. When the economics and crime considerations created by prohibition are calculated, the true cost of the war on marijuana is astronomical.

Last year over 700,000 Americans were prosecuted for marijuana crimes in the United States, the vast majority for possession. Most of the Americans arrested for marijuana have jobs, pay taxes, and function well in society. After being convicted, many can no longer find good jobs or contribute to the economy or society in the ways they could have. What do you think they will do when faced with survival? Many will be forced onto the rolls of social programs, and others will turn to crime. The war on marijuana is actually creating more of the very problems (and criminals) Americans are so concerned about. Give an American a good job and some hope, and you will find you have less crime, fewer people on public assistance, and you will expand your tax base. It really is not that hard to understand.

The war on marijuana is a civil war with one faction imposing its will at gun point and great cost on the other. You do not have to approve of drug use, to see this is worse than the marijuana. There is more marijuana, it is stronger, and it is cheaper than ever. Furthermore, anyone — even kids — can get it right now. That is the reality of marijuana prohibition. Regulation, and honest education is better.

What have you got for your trillion dollars? For 10% of what it now costs in tax dollars to wage the war on marijuana, you could get a much better result. When you add the benefit of productive Americans instead of economic liabilities, I believe you will get more than your 10% investment back, in taxes and consumer spending.

If drugs were legal would you run out and do them? Most people would not. People who want to use drugs can get them very easily right now

Drug-fueled violence is escalating around the world, Mexico being a prime example. The drug war has made a health issue into a huge criminal problem. We have over 2 million Americans in prison now, that is 6 times the world median. We have 5% of the world’s population with 25% of the world’s prisoners. A great many are non violent drug offenders. People who use marijuana do not belong in prison and we can not afford to put them there.

No one has ever died from an overdose of Marijuana. Alcohol related disease killed 150,000 Americans last year, and tobacco 450,000. Contrast that to marijuana which is actually used to treat many illnesses. Marijuana is used medically in fourteen states, and the District of Columbia. Even the federal government has a medical marijuana program. The destructiveness of current policy is obvious, spending countless billions for that policy is something Americans simply can no longer afford, particularly when it just doesn’t work.

Open your eyes and your mind, help unite Americans. Marijuana prohibition is an ongoing problem, has failed, and is destructive to Americans and America. If you see marijuana as a problem it is clearly a health problem not a criminal one. Help your brother instead of destroying him — you may just need him and you can help put the country back on the economic track needed today more than ever.

Make no mistake: prohibition is profit driven, but not just for dealers and organized crime. The prison industrial complex, the pharmaceutical industry and law enforcement all depend on the drug war. They reap billions of dollars from it, money that would be better spent on infrastructure and education. Politicians cannot throw enough of your money away on the war against marijuana. This has been going on for so long that the raw data is there for all to see. The numbers and results speak for themselves.

Let me say it again: what have you got for your trillion dollars?…any questions?

For more on the economic impacts of marijuana prohibition also see:

Harvard Economist on why marijuana should be legalized:

Legal Pot Means Big Savings on Law Enforcement