High Time to Stop the War on Marijuana

With little fanfare, marijuana became a prohibited substance in 1923. Even though it had been used for sacramental, medicinal and recreational purposes for 10,000 years, when Parliament decided to criminalize marijuana use in 1923, few members of Parliament had even heard of this drug. In fact, in 1923, few Canadians were using it, and until the explosion of the counterculture in the 1960’s, there were only a handful of recorded convictions for the use or sale of marijuana. After 64 years of chasing the cannabis criminal, we have seen consumption of marijuana skyrocket, with an estimated two million Canadians indulging in this "vice" despite the presence of the draconian criminal sanctions. The only legacy left from this battle with marijuana consumers is the expenditure of billions of dollars in pursuit of the cannabis criminal, and the saddling of some 600,000 Canadians with criminal records for possession of marijuana.