beyond prohibition foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4th, 2009
Beyond Prohibition Foundation

Stephen Harper appeared at the National Arts Centre to preform a Beatles song with Yo Yo Ma last week. Harper, whose government has disregarded overwhelming evidence showing the prohibition of marijuana is an unmitigated failure, sang a song by the Beatles about getting high with his friends. This despite repeated statement by various Conservative ministers including the Prime Minister, that decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana would send the wrong message to children.

"Stephen Harper is singing a song about an act, passing a joint, that would under C-15 qualify him for a 6 month Mandatory Minimum prison sentence for 'trafficking' marijuana" said Jacob Hunter of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation, "This Conservative government wants to throw people in jail for an act as simple as passing a joint, yet has no problem sending it's leader out to sing about it; the hypocrisy of this government is astounding"

Rahim Jaffer, the former Conservative caucus chair, was recently arrested for drunk driving and cocaine possession. After 12 years as a Member of Parliament, Jaffer lost the last election in part for his attacks on the NDP Leader Jack Layton for his progressive stance on marijuana. Jaffer implied that Mr. Layton's comments were a threat to children and communities.

"Drunk driving is a serious offence, particularly when the driver is speeding through a village. Drunk driving risks peoples lives and has killed thousands of Canadians" said Kirk Tousaw, Executive Director of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation. "Mr. Jaffer, if convicted, belongs in jail, not for his alleged possession of cocaine but for drunk driving. The Harper Conservative government has been obsessed with appearing tough on crime. I wonder if they will crusade as vehemently against Mr Jaffer as they have against the poor, the marginalized and the addicted?"

Jon:

You are right that ad hominem attacks are not exactly the most convincing form of argumentation. That said, Health Canada deserves every bit of the scorn heaped on it by Mr. Emery. Its medical cannabis program is a nightmare of bureaucratic inefficiency and callousness, marked by hysterical and unfounded fears and an intentional refusal to make the program workable. I work for many medical cannabis users and the nightmare stories I hear on an almost daily basis cause me to agree, mostly, with Mr. Emery description of that particular government institution.

I have read the study, scientific jargon and all, and I must say that the conclusions actually reached do not fully match the headlines and descriptions used in the press. Of course, that is a common failing of journalism - call it the flip side of ad hominem - making sensational copy at the expense of actual facts.

Conservative Justice Minister Rob Nicholson was in Vancouver this week on a campaign stop to promote Bill C-15. The Bill, which has been widely criticized by experts, seeks to impose mandatory minimum sentences on a host of drug related offences. Harsher laws have been in place in the United States for over 20 years but have had the paradoxical effect of increasing the level of violent crime on the street while providing no reduction in drug offences.

“Minister Nicholson is just repeating the same rhetoric whenever he mentions C-15” said Kirk Tousaw, Executive Director of the Beyond Prohibition Foundation, “it's no surprise his focus is on talking tough because he is unable offer up any evidence to support this Bill. The most ironic, and tragic, thing about Bill C-15 is that the Justice Minister, police organizations and gangs are all on the same side of the issue. Gangs certainly don’t want to end drug prohibition. It makes them far too much easy money.”

Beyond Prohibition Foundation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2009

Arrests are down across Canada this year and have been declining steadily for the past five years. However, a large chunk of Canadian society is actually being arrested at record levels. Thieves? Nope. Violent predators? Not them either. The group being targeted by police and arrested at all-time highs are those nefarious cannabis users. You know, the guy that smokes a joint instead of cracking a beer at the end of a hard day of work. The mother of three that has a few puffs to relax after a day of chasing young ones around the house. The cancer survivor that uses cannabis to relieve pain and allow her to eat.

These “criminals” are the ones that police seem bent on busting for simple possession – an offence that reached a 30-year record levels of arrests in 2007 and, amazingly, increased by 5% more in 2008.

Today the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime released a report calling for the decriminalization of casual and addict drug use and personal cannabis production. After a preface regurgitating the same tired and defunct arguments against repealing prohibition, the Report itself provides significant evidence that a law-enforcement based approach to drugs has failed. The Beyond Prohibition Foundation hopes that this report represents a fundamental and progressive shift in the official position of the international organization and a step away from the failed “War on Drugs” paradigm.