Canada and the Cannabis Closet

For the last few weeks Andrew Sullivan has been running a series of posts called the Cannabis Closet.

Like this one.

I'm in my mid-twenties, and without reservation I’d say that, at minimum, half of the people I know like smoking weed. Also, many people my age and younger, including myself, say they'd often rather have a joint than go out drinking; we consider it to be an edifying way to have an altered consciousness, as opposed to amnesic destructor of our mental and physical health and a ruiner of countless Saturdays.

And this one.

We need credible people to stand up and say "I contribute to society, I work hard, I love my family, and I smoke pot. This is the only way I break the law. The law is wrong." And we need a lot of them. There are a lot of people that could make this argument. Unfortunately, society being what it is, a lot of people, myself included, are (excuse the metaphor) in the closet.

Which depresses me because I hate any kind of closet. And because it reminds me that Stephen Harper and his wretched Reform Cons are preparing to launch another ridiculous War on Marijuana.

If passed into law, Bill C-15 would, among its other provisions, throw people caught with one marijuana plant into the slammer for a minimum of six months. If growing a single plant is done on a property that belongs to another person or in an area where it may present a hazard to children, minimum jail time is nine months.

The only time I ever grew a marijuana plant was entirely by accident.Sébastien and I had rented a place in the McGill University Ghetto. On a dilapidated porch in the back was a baby's plastic wading pool full of mud.

And one day out of the middle of it a single marijuana plant started growing like a beanstalk. So fast in fact I became paranoid, cut it down too soon, and dried it in the oven. Which turned out to be a DISASTER. The only thing we got out of it was a mild buzz....and a headache. But we still laugh about it today.

So the thought that we could have gone to prison for six months for something like that gives me the creeps. And makes me really angry.

Which is why I was glad to read about this step in the right direction.

This bill would decriminalize the simple possession of marijuana under 30 grams and the possession of two or fewer plants. It would sever the ties between the casual user and organized crime gangs. It would eliminate demand for their product and significantly undermine the financial underpinnings of organized crime gangs in Canada.

Exactly. How dumb to you have to be not to understand that simple truth?

When will governments stop treating law abiding pot smokers like CRIMINALS?

When will the hypocrisy end? When will all those Canadians have the courage to come out of the cannabis closet?

When will we just LEGALIZE IT ?