In our many different kinds of lifestyle and behaviours, Canadian politicians have called Canada a proud leader. Take for instance the legalizing of marijuana. In no way are we leaders in this battle, but we may be the leaders in skimming the cream off the top of the milk. Once they have established a price which was to be determined so as to break the black market’s back and they realize just how much is to be made, the war on drugs will be a lost battle.
Recently, Mr. Trudeau has announced that he will be moving forward to legalize all drugs, opioids and all; or at the very least, decriminalize them. Although I have heard many arguments pro and con, I am coming to believe that fine sounding arguments are not the base reasoning behind the changes. Think of it this way.
The battle currently being fought against the drug trade is costing this country billions of dollars. As in the case of marijuana legalization, remove the costs of fighting it and tax the sale of it. Now instead of costing, they are making money by just making it legal and controlling the distribution.
I am fully aware of the difficulty in dealing with this issue, but by taking the profits away from the drug cartels and taking it for yourselves, what does that make you? Talk about being a leader, or should I say a dealer! All they did was switch two letters. They will still spend some of the money to identify illegal dealers and to prosecute them, but I am sure that has all been calculated as to how badly it will cut into the profits to be made.
If you think that I am just ranting, take a careful look at the heated discussions between the three levels of governing bodies over the distribution of the millions to be made from weed. Are they really so naïve as to believe that they will destroy the black market? All the cartel will have to do is lower their own price by a nickel and it will actually grow. In the legalization process, all the rules changed, and now these black market dealers will be able to deal with less restriction than ever before.
If all the proceeds of drug sales would immediately be ploughed back into the treatment and education for kids and addicts, you would not be reading this article. As it stands, a lot of the monies will go to general budget which in turn will bolster the ridiculous pensions and other benefits for politicians, at the same time as they do nothing to protect the pensions of the general public who have worked hard all their lives from losing theirs.
Last night on the news, the debate was over the freedom for cross provincial border liquor shopping and the supposed loss of tax dollars. The only official that made sense to me was the leader from Nunavut who plainly said, “We don’t care about the money or loss of it, we are more concerned about the destruction of our people due to the effects of alcohol, such as the extremely high rates of suicide”.
More and more, we are hearing the number of the operators of planes, trains and vehicles doing so under the influence. How many accidents and how many lives lost will it take before the rulers of our land realize that we might have dropped the ball after all? They make spurious decisions and then expect the rest of the population to pick up the pieces when the wheels fall off the wagon. Look at the scramble now for drug detection in drivers; we’re years away from a reasonable system.
I feel like we’re at an auction for our very lives and the auctioneer is calling out; Going, Going, Gone.
Chris Salomons is the kitchen co-ordinator at Potters Hands.