With the federal government vowing to legalize cannabis, and with criminal trial judges throwing out cannabis-related charges, the question becomes, why are cops still enforcing prohibition?
They say the law is the law, that they don’t make the rules, they just enforce them. And, while that may be true to an extent, they certainly prioritize the law.
And they don’t prioritize based off the wishes of consumers who have purchased their services in a free-and-fair market on a consensual basis. They prioritize the law based on the arbitrary standards of superiors and personal valuations, and nowhere is this more evident than cannabis prohibition.
When Justin Trudeau appointed former Toronto police chief Bill Blair as his legalization point-man, he was basically slapping cannabis enthusiasts in the face.
Well, shame on them for thinking voting actually mattered, and that the Liberals weren’t lying through their teeth.
More importantly, Bill Blair’s appointment signified that cannabis legalization in Canada would be decided by the same people who had enforced prohibition for all these years.
But instead of putting police in charge of legalization, many of them should be in front of judges.
Blair, along with the other police chiefs and higher-ups that continue to prosecute people for a plant, are acting like criminals.
And this isn’t hyperbole. Think about it — by focusing on cannabis, police have to allocate scarce time, money and resources away from other duties, like stopping violent crime and theft.
By enforcing prohibition, they’re making us less safe, and with the Liberals saying they’ll legalize and with judges throwing out mandatory minimums and treating trafficking charges with slaps on the wrist, the motivations of Canada’s various police forces must be called into question.
While cannabis oil causes certain types of cancer to go into remission, police are acting like pirates, taking what’s not theirs and then having the audacity to believe they have the moral high-ground.
Commenting on a bust where the RCMP seized 10 litres of Phoenix Tears, Sgt. Rob Haney said, “It is extremely rewarding knowing that we were able to keep these dangerous drugs from reaching the streets of our communities.”
This man should be facing criminal charges, not praise. The entrepreneurs who were delivering the medicine are the heroes, not this local yokel dressed in a magic costume that somehow makes violence okay.
Cannabis is a plant. We already have impaired driving laws in place so all this hoopla about the “dangers” of stoned driving is just baseless propaganda.
There is no justification for continuing to enforce prohibition — everyone but cops seem to realize that.
I suppose it’s much easier to attack peaceful farmers and enforce victimless crimes than to actually go out and provide law and order.
So while Justin Trudeau talks about protecting the children, he’s forgetting that, by disregarding immediate decriminalization and continuing the status quo of prohibition, he’s making all Canadians less safe, and for no good reason at all.